The lawsuit claims that Hopkins and other school officials violated the state’s Child Protection Act, failing to act as mandatory reporters of neglect to Child Protective Services.
Local 4′s Shawn Ley asked Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald if she plans to pursue criminal charges against Hopkins and other Oxford school staff.
“I do not see a criminal case against any school employee,” McDonald said.
@kaen I agree with this and very much agree about using tools (knowledge, resources, etc) schools have been given from previous school shootings. It's unfortunate they have so much material from other shootings to look at, evaluate. I would also hope that it is transparent to members of the community and parents to see and know about.These kids at this school deserved so much more from their administrative team and the board.
@kaen I agree with this and very much agree about using tools (knowledge, resources, etc) schools have been given from previous school shootings. It's unfortunate they have so much material from other shootings to look at, evaluate. I would also hope that it is transparent to members of the community and parents to see and know about.
Do schools have outside accrediting agencies that review them? For whatever safeguards, response efforts that the school would put in place is there some outside person(s) saying that it is good enough, or does that happen?
There are dozens of references to Michigan's Sovereign Immunity laws, but I think this one offers a concise and informative overview of the difficulties in holding school districts and/or personnel responsible for negligence.
School Negligence | Grand Rapids Premises Liability Lawyers Neumann Law Group
...Public schools and their employees are usually immune from suit under the doctrine of sovereign immunity. This doctrine provides that a governmental entity may not be sued except with its express consent and waiver of the doctrine. There are a limited number of exceptions to governmental immunity, and one of these is for injuries suffered in public buildings. A governmental agency may be liable for a bodily injury arising from a dangerous or defective condition of a public building if it has actual or constructive knowledge of a defect but fails to fix it within a reasonable time after acquiring knowledge of the risk.
When an injury is a result of a school employee's negligence, rather than a dangerous condition, or if the school can persuasively argue this, the standard shifts. In Michigan, you must establish gross negligence to hold a public school's employees liable for their actions. This means that there is an actual awareness of a specific danger to a child, as well as a conscious disregard for the risk. You may only be able to hold liable the specific government employee involved in the accident that harmed your child, such as a teacher or a staff member who acted in a grossly negligent fashion. If the injury was a result of a formal or informal policy that actively created a risk for a child, you may also be able to hold the school board accountable. When there are other factors that contributed to your child's injury, however, such as another student who was behaving dangerously, the government employee may not be held liable...
Bringing this over from the previous thread from @borndem
"I kinda wonder if the defense team knows they don't have a leg to stand on in this one. It could be that they are using their time on other upcoming cases, or maybe they are holding back until the trial (that's doubtful IMO.
As we all know, with respect to defense attorneys, their biggest charge is to assure their client(s) get(s) a fair trial. Maybe that's all they feel they can do on this one...
What could they say or do to minimize their actions/in-actions in their defense?"
Remember, that in a trial, the prosecution has the burden to prove guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The defense doesn't even have to put on a case at all if they don't want to (though I wouldn't recommend this). All the defense really needs to do is make sure their clients get a fair trial, and try their best to create reasonable doubt.
Court Explorer | Oakland County, Michigan (oakgov.com)
Court Explorer | Oakland County, Michigan (oakgov.com)
Arraignment Tuesday, March 8 at 1:00PM.
Pre-trial hearing Tuesday, March 15 at 10:00AM.
Cannot get the info -- get error message "something went wrong, try again later." Was it taken down? I'll try again later.
Thanks for the hearing dates -- looking forward to hearing these...
Cannot get the info -- get error message "something went wrong, try again later." Was it taken down? I'll try again later.
Thanks for the hearing dates -- looking forward to hearing these...
Ethan Crumbley decision on staying in Oakland County Jail expected early this week
Ethan Crumbley decision on staying in Oakland County Jail expected early this week
I will be very surprised if the Judge sends Ethan back to Children's Village. Too many safety concerns for the residents and staff, as well as Ethan himself. JMO