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Local Group and Lawyer
Trying to Keep Esmie's Case
in Juvenile System |
| (By Anthony Tao, KCCJ reporter, September 22, 2005. This is the fourth article in the series.) Jacob Horwitz, a father of three, was among the many who packed the Johnson County courthouse on Sept. 13 to attend the first public court appearance of Esmie Tseng, accused of stabbing her mother to death last month in their suburban Overland Park home. |
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"You did not see an adult escorted in and out," Horwitz said. "You saw a small, shivering, scared child."
Horwitz is part of a local group called Concerned Citizens for Esmie, comprised of parents, teachers, friends and other community members. The group began as a small mailing list called "Friends of Esmie," then grew to about 75 to 100 members.
The group has stated on its Web site that its mission is to keep the 16-year-old's case in the juvenile court system. The district attorney's office has filed a motion to waive Tseng's juvenile status in order to try her as an adult on first-degree murder. A conviction carries a sentence of 25 years to life.
"It's very common in a case of intentional homicide with a juvenile who's over the age of 15 for us to file a waiver along with the charges," said prosecutor Paul Morrison. "The reason for that is because it keeps our options open as to what's going to happen with the case."
The juvenile court system offers very little reprimand for those found guilty. A person convicted in juvenile court can only be confined until age 23, according to Morrison, so a waiver to adult status is "almost always" filed for grievous crimes.
"Nobody in the group thinks she should be free or out of jail, but our goal - we make it plain on the Web site - is not to judge guilt or innocence but to keep her in the juvenile court system," Horwitz said. "To put a kid in the adult system - once you understand the difference between the juvenile and adult systems - you realize that it would be barbaric and criminal of our society, in our opinion."
Morrison said he is still investigating whether there may be possible mental health issues, family abuse, drug abuse or other factors that may convince him to withdraw the waiver.
"I have never said that we're hell-bent on waiving this kid," Morrison said. "What I've said is the law presumes waiver, so we file a waiver as a preemptive sort of way to handle things."
Tseng's attorney, Robb Edmonds, said the waiver is currently his first - and perhaps only - priority. He said he is trying to learn everything he can about Tseng's complicated world and culture.
"What I'm trying to do with this waiver motion is present to the judge compelling factors to convince the court that this case ought to stay in juvenile court, and the better I can explain her world, I think the better chance I have in succeeding in that motion," Edmonds said.
Horwitz, who has two teenagers in the Shawnee Mission district who knew Tseng from summer camp, said he hopes his group can help. He encourages people within the Chinese community to visit www.esmie.com to share their thoughts and reactions. Visitors can also sign a petition to keep the Tseng case in juvenile court.
Cultural issues were certainly in play in this family tragedy, Horwitz said.
"That's the hardest thing for Johnson County residents to understand, the cultural issues," Horwitz said. "They haven't grown up in a Chinese family, a Chinese home. They don't know what that's like."
Tseng's next court appearance will be on Oct. 12, where a date for the waiver hearing will likely be set.
For the first article of this series, click here.
For the second article of this series, click here.
For the third article of this series, click here.
Reach Anthony Tao at y-tao2@northwestern.edu
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KCUR Interviews KCCJ Reporter on Esmie's Case:
In its Sep. 18's "KC Currents"program, KCUR, NPR(National Public Radio)'s affiliate in Kansas City, broadcast an interview of Anthony Tao, Kansas City Chinese Journal's reporter.
You can listen to it at KC Currents 9-18-05 Civil Rights Cold Cases, Strange Fruit, Esmie Tseng, Noa Baum, Russell Simmons, Sike Style .
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