Teen with ankle bracelet back at JJC after violating rules by playing basketball
A hearing was held Thursday morning at the Mahoning County Juvenile Justice Center for a student from East High School.
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - A hearing was held Thursday morning at the Mahoning County Juvenile Justice Center for a student from East High School.
The magistrate has now ordered that the 16-year-old be remanded to the JJC at least until his March 11th pre-trial hearing.
His Attorney, John Shultz, will likely file a motion for release and a hearing will be set on the matter.
The teenager is charged with rape and ordered not to have contact with the alleged victim. That's what makes this violation of the court order even more severe according to the assistant prosecutor and the magistrate.
Defense attorney Shultz told 21 News, "He wasn't in a pool hall. He wasn't in a dance club. He wasn't out running around. He was at a school-related function playing basketball."
His attorney said when his client decided to play in a junior varsity basketball game he didn't believe he was doing anything wrong. His court-ordered ankle bracelet was in full view of the crowd.
"I think that everyone was relying on everyone else thinking, 'Oh, this had been cleared, this had been approved; he's allowed to participate.' And when push came to shove and he was apprehended, it came out that no one had sought the permission from the court. Unfortunately, no one had bothered to contact me, or I would have filed the appropriate motion," Attorney Shultz said.
The teen's rape trial is March 25th.
Assistant prosecutor Megan Brundage told the court, "You are on bond for a very serious thing. Whatever miscommunication, it needs to be corrected. I don't believe they were intentionally doing something. But that doesn't mean he was in compliance."
Magistrate Karen Romano Malone said, "This charge that is pending is extremely serious. We trusted that you would follow the very specific rules. You broke the trust this court gave you. You will be held in detention."
21 News has learned that the 16-year-old was only allowed to go to classes at school and was ordered to return home by 4:00 pm each weekday or it would be reported as a violation of the court order, as it was in this case.
We did reach out to the basketball coach and the principal at East High School, but they declined to comment, only saying through a spokesperson that if they had been aware of specific rules, they would have abided by them.
21 News also reached out to the Ohio High School Athletic Association to see if there are any provisions for a student in this type of situation, but a court order would override that.
