June 10, 2008

A Spanking! A Spanking!

Fryday, 17 Infusion 2008

And it’s a court ordered spanking to boot!

Lawsuit: Los Fresnos JP ordered spankings

BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS (AP) -- A Los Fresnos family is going to court to prevent a Cameron County justice of the peace from ordering spankings in his courtroom.

A lawsuit filed today alleges Justice of the Peace Gustavo "Gus" Garza told a 14-year-old girl's stepfather to strike her repeatedly on the buttocks in open court.

If he didn't, the judge said the girl would be found guilty and fined $500 for truancy.

[snip]

Zurita says he didn't feel as if he had a choice but to follow the order.

In an affidavit, Zurita says that when he was through, the judge told him he had not struck the girl hard enough.

There was no reporting on how turned on the judge and the rest of the attorneys present were by the unusual ‘punishment’ being forced upon the individual (presumably) on trial. And I’m sure that the judge could find another ‘truant’ who would be willing to be spanked in certain areas of town for much less than the $500 he was going to fine the defendant if she wasn’t going to let her pert little bottom get red-a$$ed for the entertainment of the court. Although I’m relatively certain it would have taken a while for the judge to find a fourteen year old girl to spank…

Posted by (: Tom :) at June 10, 2008 04:20 AM
Comments

You can disbarr judges, yes?

I'm a little disturbed by the commenter who says we have a "right and obligation" to hit children. I can quibble over the "right" bit but "obligation..."

No one will force me to hit my child. And if anyone else hits my child...

Posted by: Thud at June 10, 2008 05:28 PM

The tone of the majority of the comments at the original story seem to be of the 'the judge made the right call' type. I couldn't agree with you more, Thud, that this is the wrong thing to do - especially for a court of law...

Except that, technically, they were given a choice. Although how much of a choice it is - between a spanking, and a $500 fine - would probably depend on how wealthy the family is.

Posted by: (: Tom :) at June 10, 2008 06:03 PM