News If Prosecutors Had Their Way, Teen Shot At Garfield High School Would’ve Been in Jail
posted by on November 4 at 8:00 AM
If King County Prosecutors had gotten the sentence they’d asked for when they filed burglary, possession of stolen property and vehicle prowls charges against 15-year-old Quincy Coleman, he would’ve been in jail instead out on the street in front of Garfield High School where Coleman was shot and killed on Friday.
Last September, Court records say prosecutors, along with Coleman’s probation counselor, recommended a 52-65 week sentence for the charges, which included a February 2008 break in at a Capitol Hill home.
Instead, Judge Carol Schapira gave Coleman one year of supervision, 400 hours of community service, mandatory counseling and a 4:30pm curfew.
Court records show Coleman had been in trouble before for multiple trespassing, burglary and drug charges and his Myspace page features a photo of Coleman cradling a handgun, along with pictures of stacks of cash, drugs and a pit bull and references to the Bloods street gang. Coleman’s death is being investigated by SPD’s gang unit.
With such a long rap sheet, it’s unclear why Coleman was out on the street instead of in juvenile detention receiving treatment.
The city has been making moves—such as Mayor Greg Nickels’ Youth Violence Prevention Initiative—to crack down on and prevent any further surge in what council member Tim Burgess describes as “a serious gang crisis.”
“We need to acknowledge—publicly, out loud—that we have a serious gang crisis in our city,” Burgess wrote on his blog yesterday. “There are likely fewer than 100 individuals in Seattle responsible for the vast majority of the youth violence we are experiencing. We need to identify and target these individuals for proactive policing and aggressive prosecution.”
Coleman’s record doesn’t link him to any violent crimes, but he’s just one of several kids—like Pierre LaPoint—who’ve been spit out of the juvenile court system in the last year who end up right back in danger or in trouble.
Clearly the city has its work cut out for it if it intends to crack down and prevent youth crime. A large part of that might be coordinating with the already overburdened juvenile court system to find out why kids are getting back out on the street before they’re ready or before it safe.
nice. why bother with judges at all, if they are just supposed to do what prosecutors tell them to do. since the stranger is such a fan of forcing credulous hacks to present both sides of the story, why doesn't your crack staff go review the court file to determine what factors judge schapira might have considered on the side of not throwing this kid in jail. you might even try to look up the relevant sentencing standards.
it's aleays easy to say you would have done it different. it's harder to make the decisions every day.
Coleman cradling a handgun, along with pictures of stacks of cash, drugs and a pit bull and references to the Bloods street gang.
Where's Dan?
with all due respect, the councilmember is on crack. There are 100s and 100s of gang members in seattle. the problem is endemic now, due to the city gradually pulling funding out of gang prevention programs over the years. the mayor's new initiative actually cuts in half the funding for the main gang prevention program, Seattle Team for Youth. oh, and by the way, what case management remains will actually be gone for 6 months while the program is retooled, so look for 500 kids to be on the streets for six months starting in january. I agree with the first poster on this, why don't you do some reporting on this beyond a blog post? this really is a story of the city screwing things up and then trying to cover over their own mistakes by moving a bunch of money around (there's almost no new $ in the Initiative). seems like an interesting story in there. or you can wait for the Times to do it poorly.
The kid is innocent. I blame the pit bull.
I work in the juvenile court system. This argument is used all the time and it is complete bullshit. That kid would have been safe in jail except the judge let him go and now he's dead!
We don't lock kids up in juvenile detention to keep them safe from being shot. We don't lock them up to punish them either, that's what adult criminal court is for. We lock them up to change their behaviors. Study after study has shown that locking them up does nothing to change their behaviors, so a lot of judges are now opting for different approaches, such as requiring the children to access services to help them address the root of their behavioral problems.
It is a tragedy that this young man was shot. It does not mean we need to lock more kids up.
I don't know. Seems like a fitting end to me. You can have this model, or he could grow a little older and be the one doing the shooting.
I hate parents. And grandparents.
WTF, Jonah?
Is it his fault he was shot? If you think jail is a place where youth are reformed and "receive treatment", you're extremely ignorant. If you have evidence that proves that putting youth behind bars for long sentences "prevents youth crime", rather than taking them out of school and making it harder for them to reintegrate into society, maybe you should share it with us? The implication you play with-- that jail isn't just for people who commit crime, but also to keep people safe and prevent them from being victims of crime-- is chilling.
How did your good reporting on police accountability morph into this sensationalistic crime beat crap? This is actually WORSE than mainstream media coverage.
Mr. Poe: Most of these kiddos don't grow up to be criminals. I always say they are assholes with a 15 year olds' self control, and they grow up to be assholes with a 25 year olds' self control, and that usually works out okay for them.
Oh, so we should just deal with it until they're older and hope they're one of the "most." Glad you're working in the system. M-hm.
Judges in this town are wusses...commit any crime you want and as long as you're a juvenile you can get away with it. Time to treat criminal teens just like adults. That would fix the problem fast. It's the only issue that makes me regret voting a straight Democratic ticket.
MAN I CANT BELIEVE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT ARE COMING OUT OF U GUYS MOUTHS. MAN QUINCY WASNT A BAD KID AT ALL, EVEN THROUGH IM ONLY 18 I KNEW HIM SINCE HE WAS LITTLE AND FOR U GUYS TO SAY SOME BULLSHIT LIKE THAT. ALL ITS DOING IS MAKING IT WORSE. NOBODY KNEW THAT HE WAS GOING TO GET SHOT AND FOR U GUYS TO SAY HE WOULD STILL BE ALIVE IF HE WAS LOCKED UP. MAN ANYBODY CAN GET SHOT AT ANY GIVEN TIME.