The trial of an 11-year-old girl arrested on a deadly weapon charge is scheduled to begin Wednesday after her attorney and prosecutors are unable to agree on a plea bargain.
Authorities arrested Maribel Cuevas, 11, in April after she threw a two-pound rock at a neighborhood boy who had hit her with a water balloon. The boy suffered a severe gash in his forehead when the rock hit him. Cuevas was sent to Fresno's juvenile hall for five days and also spent a month under house arrest after police reported she resisted arrest and assaulted an officer.
The incidents sparked a debate between authorities and the girl's family.
The girl's parents claim the felony charge against their daughter is an extreme measure to a childish crime.
Fresno's mayor and police chief, however, feel Maribel's case was handled appropriately, and that assault with a deadly weapon is the proper charge for an act that could have been fatal.
A spokesperson for defense attorney Richard Beshwate Jr. says last-minute efforts to avert a trial were in vein.
Court commissioner Kimberly Nystrom-Geist, who specializes in family law, will preside over the hearing, which was expected to last all day and include about 20 witnesses.
Witnesses reportedly include Elijah Vang, the boy who was injured by Maribel and who has acknowledged throwing a water balloon at her; a teenage girl who was in the same yard as Maribel when the altercation took place; police officers; the emergency medical technicians who initially treated the boy; and relatives and neighbors of both children.
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