Accused girl sues city
The family of a girl who was accused of causing the death of a toddler she was babysitting is now suing the city of Seattle and the Seattle police department.
The lawsuit seeking unspecified damages claims police acted with “deliberate indifference and conscious shocking action” in their questioning of Ashley Howes, who was 13 in 2005 when she was questioned by police in the death of the child.
The lawsuit claims police interrogated the teenager for hours without advising her of her right to remain silent or allowing her access to her parents or a lawyer. It also alleges detectives continued questioning the girl after she said, “My mom and dad are getting a lawyer” and ” My dad said I’m not supposed to talk to anybody unless him or a lawyer’s … present.”
“It’s shocking because it is a case in which four, maybe more, officers were involved in the 19-hour interogation of a 13-year-old girl and apparently not one of them recognized that she has civil rights,” said one of her attorneys, Lincoln Beauregard.
Information from: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/lo...
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1. marcie
January 11, 2009 @ 11:40 am
this girl was responsible for the death of the child she should be held accountable for her actions,and the parents on both sides are also responsible ,who in the right mind would leave a 13 year old who acts like shes 6, to watch over a baby.
This girl should be punished or she will do it again,no doubt.
2. Matt
March 7, 2009 @ 4:03 pm
you know what, you have no idea what you are talking about. this girl is a good friend of mine and she is a good person. What happened was an accident and she has had to live with it every day of her life. You need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. It seems as though you are casting judgment on her just as the police did when they questioned her.
3. J. H.
September 4, 2009 @ 1:42 pm
People seem to forget that this girl is a CHILD. Not to mention the toddler’s mom decided to hang out in the bedroom with her boyfriend instead of getting up and checking on the kids…remember…they found drugs in their bedroom…sound like stellar parents to me. I guess it’s just so easy to blame another kid for it. Even if she did shake the baby out of frustration, I don’t see how you can hold a child to the same standards of self-control as you would an adult. I would never want to ruin the life of another child just because I lost my own. I could see no malice or ill will in Ashley. Sending a 13-yera old girl to prison just seems like madness to me. To think that adults were calling this girl “baby killer” is just outrageous to me.