In Missouri, the criminal courts are being used to send a message about bullying. An unfortunate case of bullying led to suicide, and the case surrounding that incident could change the way bullying is addressed in schools, workplaces, and criminal courts across the country.

Kenny Suttner was 17 when he died as a result of suicide in December 2016.  After an inquiry into his death, over 20 witnesses reported incidents of Kenny being bullied at school and while he worked at a local Dairy Queen.  The bullying incidents at work included Kenny being forced to lie on his stomach to clean under machines – a practice that wasn’t required of other employees at the location.

The school was found partly to blame, but it was Harley Branham who was Kenny’s manager at the Dairy Queen that ended up charged with involuntary manslaughter for her involvement in Kenny’s suicide.  She was the one who required him to clean the store differently from his coworkers.  Eventually, the charges were lowered and Ms. Branham pled guilty to third-degree assault.  As punishment, she was sentenced to two years of supervised probation and 30 days of house arrest.

Additional findings placed some of the responsibility for Kenny’s death with the school district for failing to act on Kenny being bullied at school.   The school district and Dairy Queen both reached agreements with Kenny’s family after the family sued.  The agreements are private (which is pretty standard, but could have involved agreements to change policies about bullying and expensive cash payments to Kenny’s family).

Some states – including Nevada – have laws making bullying a crime.  In this case, before they lowered the charges the prosecutors skipped those laws and went straight to charging Kenny’s manager at Dairy Queen with involuntary manslaughter – that means she didn’t mean to kill anyone, but she should have known her actions could result in someone’s injury or death.  Eventually, she faced ‘lesser’ charges of third-degree assault, meaning she attempted to harm someone (but not kill them).

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Questions:

1) Why do you think the manager should have faced or not faced involuntary manslaughter charges?

2) Why do you think the manager should have faced the charges she eventually pled guilty to of third-degree assault?

3) In Nevada, NRS 200.900 makes using a phone or computer to bully someone a crime.  A person under the age of 18 (a minor) can be prosecuted (charged and found guilty) as if they have committed a misdemeanor if they get caught.  That means they might face consequences of up to a $1,000 fine and six months in jail (in this case – since they’re minors – it would be juvenile detention which is a prison-like setting for people under the age of 18).  How do you feel about this kind of behavior (which is commonly called cyber-bullying) being treated as an adult crime among people under the age of 18 in your state?

Be sure to provide full explanations for your answers. For more details, you can read the article this piece was sourced from here:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/dairy-queen-manager-charged-manslaughter-bullied-teens-suicide/story?id=45498992
https://www.columbiatribune.com/news/20190712/woman-in-howard-county-teen-suicide-case-pleads-guilty-to-misdemeanor
https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/local/mother-school-district-reach-settlement-in-kenneth-suttner-wrongful-death-case/article_1e9ab2ee-be15-11e9-92d4-4f553aced299.html

Spaghetti & meatballs is a common dish that satisfies people’s hunger across the globe. Popular as this pasta dish might be, one man’s craving for the staple food led him to end up in some hot water… with the law!

A man in Pennsylvania was craving the classic dish so much so that he broke into someone’s home and stole a pot of meatballs and sauce ( a crime in itself – meatballs and sauce with no carbs?!?  Get over yourself man!).

The victim (the person whose house was broken into) said he came home to the man in front of his house covered in red sauce. When he went inside he noticed the pot of meatballs with red sauce he’d been preparing was missing, and so he called the police.

The police arrived at the scene and began following up leads, since the suspect who had since ran off.  They eventually found him at his home – in the next city over – with his face and clothing still covered in the sauce from the pot!

The thief was charged with burglary, theft by unlawful taking, and criminal trespassing (when you enter somebody else’s property without their permission).  On top of all those charges related to the theft, he had already been “wanted on a warrant for failing to appear for a prior incident”.

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Questions:

1: What penalties could the thief face for the theft by unlawful taking charge?

2: What penalties could he face for the burglary charge?

3: What penalties could he face for the criminal trespassing charge?    As you answer these questions, keep in mind that the level of consequences people face relating to theft and property damage can be tied to the value of the property that was damaged or stolen.  

4: How much is a pot of meatballs and sauce worth?  Do you count the time that goes into preparing the dish?  Cooking is an emotional process for some people – does that increase the value?   Give us a few ideas of how you would account for the value of the stolen (and technically, destroyed) property.  Then, let us know if the changing value leads to a higher possible maximum penalty under the law!  Bonus points for those of you who reply with the punishments in Nevada compared to those in Pennsylvania, where the pasta sauce was pilfered!

Be sure to provide full explanations for your answers.  For more details, you can read the articles this piece was sourced from here:
 http://www.newsweek.com/meatball-theft-crime-sauce-red-pennsylvania-823775

Contributed by- J. Plummer