Arkansas teen testifies about ex-boyfriend's 'threatening' letter

By The Associated Press

11.22.00

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LITTLE ROCK — A 14-year-old girl testified yesterday that she slept with the light on after a resource officer at Northwood Junior High School confronted her ex-boyfriend about a letter the boy had written.

The boy, then 14, was expelled from school late last August. A month later, U.S. District Judge George Howard Jr. issued a temporary order allowing the boy to return to school while a lawsuit is being decided over whether the boy should be expelled for writing a private letter that included violent images.

The boy was not identified in the lawsuit, which was filed on his behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas. The suit said the boy wrote a song or letter in his room at home, which another boy took and then gave the material to a third student. The suit said the letter expressed private feelings about the girl and the boy did not intend for the letter to reach the girl's hands. The suit said the letter was protected speech under the First Amendment.

Pulaski County Special School District attorney Greg Jones said that "true threats are not protected by the First Amendment."

The lawsuit was filed after school officials expelled the boy for one year.

The girl testified yesterday that she first heard about the letter when talking to her former boyfriend on the phone. He told her about the contents, but said somebody else had written it.

A few days later, another boy called her and told her about the contents of the letter. She asked that boy to get the letter, she said.

"I wanted to know what was in it," she said. "If it talked about killing me, I wanted to know if it was bad enough that I should do something about it."

She said her friend retrieved the letter from the home of her former boyfriend and read part of it to her. "It said he was going to rape me and that he would be under my bed and slit my throat," she said. "That really worried me."

School began Aug. 21 and she looked at the letter in the school gym. "A friend of mine looked over my shoulder when I was reading it and she said, 'That's bad, we've got to do something about it.'"

The girl testified that she recognized the handwriting of her former boyfriend. She said she showed the letter to a school resource officer, who took her to his office and called in the boy. At that point, the girl left school.

"I was really scared," she said. "I slept with the light on."

She said she felt safer after the boy was expelled from school. She said Howard's order upset her and that her friends stayed close by after the boy returned to class.

The girl and her ex-boyfriend were in the same youth group at church, but she and her family quit going to the church after she saw the letter.

Two women who were youth leaders at the church, run by a relative of the girl, said the girl and the boy seemed to get along fine even a week before school started.

Update

Federal judge sides with boy accused of writing threatening letter
Court finds teen's words are protected free speech, Arkansas school district has overstepped its authority by expelling him.  11.27.00

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Federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order allowing boy back in school pending outcome of hearing.  10.05.00

Kids, beware: Public school punishes boy for private thoughts
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