Honors Student Dishonorably Thrown in Jail for Missing School
Was justice really served in the case of Diane Tran?
Kids skip school for plenty of reasons, and usually the reasons are not especially wholesome.
Diane Tran, 17, has missed a lot of school, but not for the same reasons that most other truants miss school. She juggles two jobs (one full-time and one part-time) while also taking college-level classes and caring for her siblings since her parents split up and left town, according to the New York Daily News. Sometimes she’s just too tired to get to school on time.
You’d think anyone and everyone at Willis High School in Willis, Texas, and in the surrounding community would be at least a little sympathetic to her situation and appreciative of the fact that despite everything she’s up against, she still manages to maintain a spot on the honor roll.
Except instead of trying to help Diane, she was thrown in jail for a night because of her excessive absences.
A judge named Lanny Moriarty apparently warned Diane last month to cease missing school lest she risk violating the truancy law.
“If you let one run loose, what are you gonna do with the rest of ‘em? Let them go too?” Judge Moriarty said to KHOU 11 News.
Diane missed another class and was sentenced to 24 hours in prison. Judge Moriarty is upfront about the fact that he’s using Diane as an example. No more than 10 unexcused absences are permitted in Texas, and no more than three in one month.
Hopefully everyone else besides the judge is outraged by her sentence and pulling together to see how they can help her and her siblings, so she can act her age and finish school without worrying about such adult things as jobs, caring for her family, and getting thrown in jail.
And hopefully Moriarty feels the wrath of what he’s done to the poor girl by being unseated the next time it comes to getting elected or appointed. Then maybe he can get a taste of what it feels like to have to juggle so much just to get by, nevermind get ahead.
Photo credit: iStock
The only danger to society is having people like Judge Lanny Moriarty “running loose”.
I wonder how much of the story the judge knew. I kind of doubt she was able to afford a decent lawyer, and it’s possible she was so intimidated by the whole thing she was unable to speak up for herself. I wonder who took care of her siblings whil she was in jail. :-/
He could have given her a suspended sentence or used his power to advocate on her behalf with the social service, charity organizations or the parents’ responsibility. To him, a day in jail is not a death sentence, but it is a traumatic event for a young girl just trying to survive the world and he is in a situation of power and refused to give a helping hand.
Would the police stop a speedy car carrying a woman in labor on the way to the hospital and give a ticket or escort the car as fast as he can to get to the hospital? It is all about human understanding and compassion!
http://eyedrd.org/2012/05/diane-tran-houstonian-honor-student-landed-in-jail-for-missing-school-by-judge-lanny-moriarty.html
Fortunately, Diane Tran’s harsh and unjust sentence has sparked outrage and compassion across the nation. Her story also became a widely read thread on Reddit, a popular social-content aggregator. Twitter was flooded with sympathy for Tran and criticism for Moriarty.
http://eyedrd.org/2012/05/honor-student-diane-tran-sent-to-jail-for-truancy-sparks-national-outrage-and-compassion.html
Instead of learning and understanding her living and family situation, the teachers, the school district, and the judge have failed her, failed to protect her. $75,000 raised and 211,000 online signatures collected. However, another door has opened to her thanks to the generosity of the Americans and the people from other countries.
Houston defense attorney Ned Barnett on Tuesday called the ruling “outrageous” and said “a little discretion should have been used” in the teenager’s case.
“It doesn’t take much discretion to have sympathy for Miss Tran,” Barnett said. “To lock her up is just outrageous.”
Barnett, who is not defending Tran, said the girl likely spent her 24-hour jail sentence at Montgomery County Jail surrounded by suspected murderers, drug addicts and prostitutes. “It’s hard-core,” he said of the jail, noting that past clients whom he has defended described it as “the worst experience of their life.”
Worldwide outpouring support for Diane Tran against the outrageous sentence by Judge Lanny Moriarty
http://eyedrd.org/2012/05/worldwide-outpouring-…