Aspies For Freedom

http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article...ryid=55007

The two Cobb County middle school girls accused of serving a poisoned cake to about a dozen students are due back in court Friday.

Parents of one of the 13-year-old girls charged with 12 counts of aggravated assault and intent to commit murder say their daughter has Asperger's Syndrome, an autism-related condition, which they believe played in a role in the incident.

Asperger's Syndrome is considered part of the autism spectrum. It is a neurologically based developmental disability

Sheila Wagner, the assistant director of Emory University's Autism Center, heads a program that works with autistic and Asperger's Syndrome students across Georgia.

“Children with Asperger’s Syndrome must have IQs that fall within the average to the above average range, so these are children that have a lot of capabilities, but they often have many social difficulties and behavior problems,” she said.

They do not have the same amount of social skills,” she added. “They're very immature, often times very socially naive, socially vulnerable to others out there and their influences”

Asked if it could have played a role in the incident, she said, “The connection would be in just not understanding the consequences of an incident like this.”

“Kids with Asperger's, like the girl who baked this cake, are at the high end of the autism spectrum,” she said.

Wagner says kids with Asperger's Syndrome are often the victims of bullies and are easily influenced.

She also said the act of one child should not be the image people have of this syndrome. “I would hate to think everyone would think that all individuals with Asperger's are capable of something like this because it's just not true,” she said.

Wagner says regardless of what happens in the case, the young girl needs intensive intervention.

Somehow I actually feel sympathy for this girl...

My first reaction was to wonder if she was bullied by the ones that she allegedly tried to poison, maybe it will come out in the course of the trial.

More information from the trial-

Two 13-year-old girls accused of taking a cake to school that sickened about a dozen classmates faced a hearing Friday in Cobb County Juvenile Court.

District Attorney Pat Head said he probably would not have the results of lab tests to determine the ingredients in the cake by the hearing.
Both teens were charged with 12 counts of aggravated assaultwith intent to commit murder. One girl was also charged withterroristic acts and interference with government property.

He said the results would determine whether the case will be treated as a prank or a more serious incident.

Police said tests showed the icing on the cornbread cake contained an expired prescription drug, bleach, clay and Tabasco sauce.

One of the teens is charged with 12 counts of aggravated assault to commit murder, one count of terroristic acts and one count of interference with government property.

The other girl is charged with 12 counts of aggravated assault with the intent to commit murder.

The girls have been in the Cobb County Juvenile Detention Center since they were charged Tuesday.

The father of one of the East Cobb Middle School students said Thursday his daughter has a mild form of autism that sometimes causes her to make inappropriate statements and makes it difficult to relate to others.

The father said his daughter was diagnosed this summer with Asperger's syndrome, and that doctors told him the girl should not be in a conventional school setting.

Asperger's is an autism-related condition characterized by social and communication deficiencies.

He said his daughter did not mean to harm anyone with the cake.

"It was a horrible prank that went too far and a lot of people have suffered," the father told The Associated Press. The man asked that he not be identified by name to protect his daughter.

Some of the students started vomiting after eating the cake in the school cafeteria Tuesday. Eleven students, mostly seventh-graders, were treated at a hospital and released.

The father said the two girls began playing around in the kitchen Tuesday after growing bored.

"It was not any kind of malicious intent," he said. "They thought it would be funny. They know it's not funny now."

Police said they are baffled as to why the girls would bring a poisoned cake to school.

"At this point we don't have any motive," said Cpl. Dana Pierce, a police spokesman. "That's part of the mystery."

School system spokesman Jay Dillon said the girls apparently did not target anyone in particular when they offered it to classmates.

"They were offering the cake to anyone who would take it," he told the newspaper.

Dillon said regardless of the outcome in court, the girls face long suspensions and possibly could be expelled.

Am I the only one that finds that bizarre!!!!

Looks like they were trying to provoke constipation, the runs, and a nice clean germ-free finish...I wonder what the drug was?

13 and the law sees her as a little Osama...

That seems to be the way the states are going LM!

The one sure outcome of the war in Iraq is that the neo-cons now find America a lot easier to control; hurray for the land of the free!

Panel finds girls medical syndrome did not contribute to cake incident

http://www.mdjonline.com/articles/2004/1...164396.txt

It seems like the school are saying that because there was a delay in her getting diagnosed, so they delayed her getting a suitable school environment, that her AS doesnt exist, therefore can't be relevant to her actions.
Logic????? :evil:

The logic is that the school knows it will be ultimately responsible for everything if it accepts that the girl should have been in a different class and the parents of all the children will sue the school. Problem is though, did the girl actually need to be in a different class or is it just being used as part of her defence?

The final outcome for the girls -

Two 13-year-old girls who served a glue-laced cake that sickened more than a dozen classmates at East Cobb Middle School were sentenced to probation Wednesday.

A juvenile court judge dismissed all but one of the more than 40 charges the girls faced in connection with the case, according to the father of one of the suspects. A two-day hearing started Tuesday to negotiate a settlement between prosecutors and defense attorneys.

In the end, the girls were sentenced on a single count of disrupting a public school. One of the teens received nine months of probation while the other received 12 months. Both were also ordered to write essays regarding what they learned from the incident last November.

"They've learned that sometimes childish pranks end up in circumstances that you don't foresee and that's exactly what happened in this case because that's all it was -- a prank," said defense attorney Vic Reynolds.

The resolution came down at 11:45 a.m. Wednesday. A day earlier, Judge Juanita Stedman approved of downgrading the charges from felonies to misdemeanors.

After tests on the cake's ingredients were returned last month, the district attorney's office wanted the charges reduced from aggravated assault with intent to kill. If the more serious charges remained, the middle schoolers could have been tried as adults.

The contents of the cake were revealed as glue, Tabasco sauce, and modeling clay. Investigators initially believed the cake contained bleach.

The Cobb County School District suspended the girls and recommended one be transferred to alternative school. The father of that girl is working to negotiate her return to class. He said his daughter suffers from Asperger's syndrome, an autism-related condition.
http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article...ryid=58718

Huh? What were the reason of those charges. Did they trespass on a government building to get rid of evidence?

Well in the post above it has the outcome, and the charges were drastically reduced.

Lesse... NT students in school avoid me because I'm bi and constantly throw immature insults at me when I'm walking down the hallway. I kindly correct them, not as if they'll listen. I've done some immature things in my life, but I'm more mature then some of peers.



But yes, I am easily influenced... unless it goes against my morals ALOT.