By LISA LEFF
Associated Press Writer
FRESNO, California- Lawyers for an 11-year-old girl charged with assault with a deadly weapon for throwing a rock at a boy during a water balloon fight reached a deal Wednesday that allows the child to escape jail time.
Maribel Cuevas was prepared to face a felony trial in juvenile court Wednesday when lawyers struck the deal behind closed doors. Maribel will not have to plead guilty, but she will have to participate in a mediation program in which she will be required to meet with her young victim and talk about the fight.
Maribel was arrested in April for throwing a 2-pound (0.9-kilogram) rock at a neighborhood boy who had pelted her with a water balloon. The rock gashed the boy’s forehead _ requiring stitches _ and the girl spent five days in Fresno’s juvenile hall and a month under house arrest after police said she resisted arrest and scratched an officer’s arm.
The girl’s family said the felony charge in no way matched her childish crime. But Fresno’s mayor and police chief say Maribel’s case was handled appropriately, and that assault with a deadly weapon is the proper charge for an act that might have had fatal consequences.
The defense had planned to show that Maribel’s action was provoked, and that she had been subject to harassment before, said Lisa Bennett, a legal assistant for defense attorney Richard Beshwate Jr.
The girl maintained she was playing on the sidewalk with her 6-year-old brother on April 29 when Elijah Vang rode by on his bike with a half-dozen neighborhood boys, who splattered them with water balloons.
The girl threw a rock that police later described as “jagged” and measuring 5.5 inches (14 centimeters) by 3.75 inches (9.5 centimeters) and it hit Elijah on the head. While she ran to find Elijah’s parents, a neighbor called 911.
Elijah’s family was to testify for the prosecution but was not expected to be hostile to the defense, Bennett said. The parents declined to press charges.