Man gets jail time for beating son who didn't get all A's

[CatWoman]

An Atlanta couple pleaded guilty Monday to beating their son after he didn't receive all A's on his report card.

The boy's father, Jean Pierre Marshall, 42, and stepmother, Courtney Marshall, 26, were convicted on one count of first degree cruelty to children and one count of misdemeanor battery, the Fulton County district attorney's office said. He was sentenced to one year in prison and 10 years probation; his wife received five years of probation.


Back in March 2007, the Marshalls' son, 13-year-old Jacob, asked his teacher, Sabrina Golphin, to revise his report card. She refused and Jacob threatened to kill himself, Golphin said during Monday's sentencing hearing. Jacob was shaking and "almost hysterical," she said. He told her he was afraid to go home because he didn't get all A's.

When the teacher wouldn't change his grades, Jacob altered his report card himself, and when his parents discovered the deception they beat him with a belt and their fists, the district attorney's office said. One of the father's punches caused Jacob to lose consciousness, authorities testified.

He fled the house after his beating, returning to Price Middle School — where he was a student — barefoot and in torn clothes. The Marshalls were arrested soon after.

"A parent has a right to discipline a child, in fact, he has an obligation to do so," said Superior Court Judge Michael D . Johnson. "But clearly this went well beyond that which is appropriate."

The child now lives with his biological mother in Wisconsin.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/02/25/straightastudent_0226.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Oh my goodness!

It's too bad that signs of abuse weren't evident before this. I'm glad the lad is out of the abusive situation.

[MediaBabe]

40. Looks to me like there were plenty signs of abuse

edit typo

"She refused and Jacob threatened to kill himself, Golphin said during Monday's sentencing hearing. Jacob was shaking and "almost hysterical," she said. He told her he was afraid to go home because he didn't get all A's."

The teacher just chose to ignore them.

[Midlodemocrat]

2. Jesus. That happened to me when I was teaching school.

My first year out. A kid approached me and asked me to change his grade. I wouldn't do it. He came in the next day with two black eyes.

I gave him straight A's for the rest of the year and the thought that I contributed to that child's pain still makes me sick to this day.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. How awful! :^(

[Midlodemocrat]

7. It was. I won't ever forget it.

My first year. I thought he was playing me. I was so very, very wrong.

From that point on, I made it a point to believe what they told me. One of my students many years later would come in without his homework in AP Government. He would flat out tell me that he was up with his brother all night who was dying of cancer. It wasn't a story. It was true. I gave him a pass on the homework and he did well in the class.

But, that first kid still haunts me. Especially when I see teachers who don't believe anything their students say.

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. I can remember not knowing how to read kids either. I never did stick with teaching but

I do still work with them in other capacities and I'd like to think I am getting better and finding my way through questionable situations.

(I can recall as a student teacher on a field trip getting up to allow a mother to sit with her son. Well, she smacked him and talked down to him the whole trip. My mentor was furious with me because I let the mother sit there after she (the teacher) had 'told' me to.)

Blah. :(

[Orrex]

4. You DID NOT contribute to that child's pain!

:hug:

The criminal actions of that child's parent(s) are not your responsibility, nor should you blame yourself for those criminal actions.

I suppose that you could have contacted some agency, but I don't know what the result might have been or, for that matter, what the larger context of your own situation might have been. I suspect that you had few options, and you chose a course that took away one excuse that the parent(s) would have used to justify their abuse of the child. In this regard you acted correctly IMO; a lightly padded grade is much better than an abused child.


At any rate, you mustn't blame yourself for an assault perpetrated by a criminal masquerading as a parent.

[Midlodemocrat]

8. Oh, we did contact CPS.

Not me, personally, but guidance when I reported it because as a teacher I was a mandatory reporter. I heard back that they were being provided 'services' but because of privacy laws, I never knew the extent or the exact nature.

It still haunts me. Seeing that kid walk in the next day with two black eyes. Well, one severely bruised and turning black and one almost swollen shut.

From that point on, I chose to believe it when my students told me something that was obviously painful to them.

[Orrex]

10. Sickening

Abuse of a child is inexcusable.

I hate that you had to be put in that position, but I'm gratified to hear that you treated it with the seriousness it deserved.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Dogmudgeon]

17. My cousin. A girl I once dated.

Add those two. They became teachers and faced the same situation within their first two years in teaching.

This is still way too common.

Don't blame yourself -- the parents are the ones at fault, and one can only hope there is a special circle of Hell prepared just for parents such as them.

--p!

[Midlodemocrat]

21. I know. But thanks for your kind words.

I actually went on to get my doctorate in psych because of this kid. I had listened to the administration who had created an artificial divide 'them vs. us' kind of atmosphere, but after this, I chucked that philosophy out the window and went on to enjoy a wonderful career teaching. I loved it. I only left to pursue my degree, but again, working with kids is amazing. Now I volunteer, which I prefer because I have a hard time holding my tongue when I think a kid is being treated unfairly.

:hi:

[Dogmudgeon]

31. His pain becomes the world's gain

A lot of Good has been done as a result of witnessing intimate violence. It is impossible to encounter it without feeling intense revulsion, followed by the urge to stop it from ever happening again. The parent-perpetrators often have severe problems of their own that drive the behavior and numb them to their children's misery.

I've also witnessed a couple of these episodes. You never really get over it. The memory of witnessed violence is like a leech that attaches itself to your brain forever.

If you've got a PhD in psych, then you must have heard about the work of Alice Miller and what she termed "poisonous pedagogy". I think it's the most pressing need in public mental health -- eliminating it by educating and treating parents will dramatically reduce mental illness.

Teaching is like being in the military -- it's an under-appreciated, over-criticized, and under-paid job, but it's one that I could never do. And yet, someone has to do it. Thanks for being a teacher, and being a good one.

--p!

[Midlodemocrat]

35. Absolutely. Her studies on the effects of physical and emotional

abuse of children is absolutely mind boggling. One of her concepts, that by hitting a child you induce life long humiliation was a huge factor to me in how I am rearing my own children.

It's not necessary to hit to get children to behave. On the flip side of the coin, I absolutely cringe when I hear a parent say something like "it's time to pick up, okay?" Ugh. Don't ask permission. Say it in a firm, but kind way. They'll do it.

[blondeatlast]

19. Those are the kind of stories that made me leave teaching after a

very short stint. There were two kids in the class with very abusive, though very different, situations. I simply didn't have the strength to deal with it and left.

Kudos for more strength than I could ever muster.

[Midlodemocrat]

23. Thank you, but I'm not sure it was strength.

I think it was empathy. I figured in the grand scheme, this was a good kid being pushed too hard and if I gave him the grades to keep him from getting the shit kicked out of him, it might resonate and he would go on and continue his education.

And, he ended up going to Duke. So, it could have been worse.

[samdogmom]

32. Thank you for doing that!

I'm so saddened by this report!

My son wasn't a stellar student--sometimes he "forgot" to bring his report card home. I would dutifully drive him back to school and wait, and wait, and wait...until he got the courage to bring the damn thing out to the car! The reason why he didn't want to share was that it wasn't his "best".

Well, we never gave him a hard time verbally about his grades and school performance--it was just looks--but they must have been devastating to him. Now, I'm very sad about the pressure we put on him.

Guess what? I'm happy to report that my son survived us! He's doing very well for himself--and he doesn't need our approval on anything anymore! He's quite successful all on his own. I'm very proud of him--mostly because he survived two very overbearing parents and went on to be successful despite us!

Shame on me! I am trying hard not to repeat this despicable pattern with my daughter who is a decade younger than her brother. (God help the first born--they have to bear all the burdens of lessons for parents!)

[MrCoffee]

33. There's a world of difference between a look and a punch

Trust me on that.

[samdogmom]

34. Guess what? I know this from personal experience!

My mother was quite abusive.

I try hard not to repeat her pattern--and I know it's hard to break this pattern.

[dysfunctional press]

39. it happened to me when i was a student.

after a childhood i.q. test in the upper 160's, i was expected to get A's...i didn't get any "rewards" for doing so, either- just punishment if i didn't.
but once i got big enough to hit back, my dad mostly laid off the physical stuff.

[MediaBabe]

41. I wish it were a perfect world

Here's a tiny thanks from me for doing what you could... :yourock:

[Fed_Up_Grammy]

5. Words fail me !

[NC_Nurse]

6. That is horrible. What monsters.

I hope his mother gets him some therapy. He'll need it after that. :cry: Poor kid....

[Winterblues]

11. Why would the man get jail time and not the women if they equally at fault?

Even if one was just an accessory to the crime the penalties should be the same..if they were involved in a bank robbery the penalties would be the same even if they both didn't actually enter the bank. :shrug:

[Javaman]

16. I think it's something to do with the child abuse laws. If she didn't lay a hand on him...

she doesn't get prison time. Something like that.

[MrCoffee]

18. The judge exercised discretion in sentencing.

They should both be in jail for much longer than one year, but whatever.

[LiberalFighter]

12. I hope they revoke visitation rights and have restraining order on the two

keeping him from entering the state of Wisconsin.

[MrCoffee]

14. I know exactly what that kid is going through

Hang in there, buddy. :hug:

[Javaman]

15. Jeeez, anyone knows you can't change a B into an A, come on!

all kidding aside.

I lived near a family like this when I was growing up.

The son didn't get an A in one of his classes, the father, a former drill sargent, put a sandwich board on the kid that read, "I'm a moron, I can't get an A in science" and made him walk up and down the block all day long. I will never forget that. Life on long island.

3 years later, the kid killed himself.

Really horrible.

The stress this poor 13 year old kid must have been under. Moron parents looking to their kid as their retirement fund. That's my take on this.

[MrCoffee]

20. You'd be surprised what kids will do to avoid a beating.

I used to sleep in an abandoned strip mall, for instance.

[Midlodemocrat]

24. God. Dude, that breaks my heart.

Truly.

You are a wonderful dad. Your children are very, very lucky.

[MrCoffee]

26. lol... I have the anti-role model to look to

I think "What would my dad do in this situation?"...then I do the exact opposite. It's working pretty well so far. That, and sobriety.

Stories like this hurt so much. I wouldn't ever dream of doing anything like that to my kids, and these procreators (I'll not do them the honor of calling them parents) make it hard for me to be a pacifist.

[Ecumenist]

36. MrCoffee, Oh my God!!! That's E-X-A-C-T-L-Y what I have always

done and told my brothers to do because the man I laughingly refer to as my father was so twisted and extremely abusive to me--THE ONLY GIRL---which resulted in my finding out years later that I had had broken bones and didn't know it. I just thought I had bad bruises. I am now 5'5" and fully grown and the Idiot was 6'6.5" and well over 250lbs. The first beating I remember, I was about 7 years old. So, consider what my size was.

He would beat me just because I didn't say "sir" to him or because I he didn't like the way I looked at him or because I wouldn't cry. As terrible as it was, what he did backfired B-I-G-T-I-M-E because now he wants to be in my life and I have absolutely no use for him. I gave him a chance following my mother's tragic death 4 years ago and he showed his ass to me with flying colours. Now, my husband and I are trying to have a baby and he wants to be benevolent grandpa. I have no plans to all him to even set eyes on my child. PERIOD. I have always considered what he would do and did the COMPLETE opposite.

I was a kid in this situation; I once got beaten not because of my grades, they were VERY good but because my teacher, during an open house, mentioned that SOMETIMES I would be chatty. Not disruptive BUT chatty. I was slapped and beaten with a leather belt with metal grommets.

[blondeatlast]

25. That's very similar to one of the stories I mention above; only this was an

eighth grade girl sleeping in back of a strip club.

Ii'm tearing up just thinking about it now.

Gald you're here; when I think of that girl, I need to hold onto all the hope I can... :cry:

[nels25]

28. I hid under my bed!!

of course back in the mid 60's they did not arrest parents for this kind of behavior.

If I did to my son and daughter what was done to me I would be in Waupon.

Oh and BTW the scars stay for along time, (especially if you do not get help).

But I have and life is better now, still I hate seeing things like this happen.

:pals:

[better tomorrow]

22. that happened to me when I was teaching

I had a Mom who wanted her kid to get straight A's. (He was a D student). They tried bribing me with tickets to NFL football games, leather bags with my name embroidered on them, etc. They used the sympathy card about him being disturbed if he was at the bottom of the class. He still got the D and we worked to bring it up to a C and then a B. That was in 2001. Today, his father emails me and we have a great friendship. The kid, well, he is still a C student and the class he was so worried about moved on and he no longer competes with them. He competes with the world, which is even more harsh. He's in Iraq.

The bottom line is that the kid's emotional problems began in the home, not in the classroom....He probably got beat for not turning his socks rightside out, too....

[whatchamacallit]

27. I'd like to beat the fuck out of the dad.

:mad:

[MrCoffee]

29. You and me both

I think I may still have some anger issues, though.

[whatchamacallit]

30. I've got this weird rule: love your kids no matter what

You can't do that, give them to somebody who can.

[Hatalles]

42. Nothing weird about that. nt

[Forkboy]

37. The judge gave him an F for Fuckhead.

[LeftyMom]

38. My childhood best friend spent a week after school crying to get a B moved up to an A.

Eventually the teacher gave in, and her lifelong streak of perfect grades was preserved, which was a good thing because her crazy ass suburban starter castle living, SUV driving, boxed wine drunk mom would probably have done something crazy otherwise. She never hit her that I know of, but she would send her for a psych eval for normal teenage behavior like having a boyfriend she didn't like, and blamed her for getting raped because she was cutting school at the time. Horrid, intensely critical, judgmental woman, but she faked it well, you really had to get to know the family to see the abuse.

I don't know how many times she told her daughter she wasn't as smart as me, and insisted that she'd looked in our school files and knew for sure. The thing was, her daughter could run rings around me at school, I mean she took AP Calculus and I barely passed Algebra II, and I can't think of any class where I was clearly her better, so even if my IQ score was higher (and I was tested younger, so it wouldn't count anyhow) it was obvious that her daughter was just as bright, if not more so, and as a teacher she should have seen that. But she never could pass up a chance to tear her poor girl down, I think she thought it was motivating her. Please don't ask me about the time she got her into modeling and how she was on her to lose weight- needless to say there was none to lose.

When the poor girl graduated (and even with perfect grades she wasn't top of her class, there are a lot of academic stage parents at that school and some of their kids took even more honors and AP courses) and got a full ride to a good college, as soon as she was out from under mom's micromanagement she dropped out her freshman year and got a job as a maid. I don't know if she'll ever learn to be self-motivated, her mother never gave her five minutes to herself to make even the simplest decision. As for the maid thing, she's fucking brilliant, but lord knows her mom did teach her how to scrub a toilet, she kept (well, her kids) kept a house so perfect and spotless it would make Martha Stewart cry tears of envy, or vomit, I'm not sure which.

The scary thing is that her amazingly controlling mom was and is an award winning public school teacher, and her stepdad is a school administrator, so who knows how many kids have got the milder version of the same treatment? I think maybe the school might have stepped in and done something about the long absences at least (nobody gets mono three years in a row) if the Mom wasn't a coworker.

So yeah, this doesn't surprise me. Not one tiny bit. Though for my friend's sake I wish it did.

[Hippo_Tron]

43. 1 year in prison, seems a bit light to me...

These people need at least five years and some serious mandatory therapy.

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

44. Sickness

Kids need to learn the value of results *and* effort...

If A kid has to work really hard for a B in a subject that is difficult for them they should be rewarded and praised for the effort..

[Ghost in the Machine]

45. "One of the father's punches caused Jacob to lose consciousness"

Can I have 10 minutes alone with this piece of shit??


PLEASE?????



PRETTY PLEASE????