TRIAL STARTS IN BOY'S DEATH MOTHER SUING SCHOOL DISTRICT OVER FATAL FIGHT.Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer VAN NUYS - Jurors were sworn in Tuesday to decide a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the mother of a Juniper Intermediate School eight-grader killed in a schoolyard fistfight three years ago. Attorneys for Stephan Corson's mother and the Palmdale School District The Palmdale School District is a school district that serves a major part of the city of Palmdale, California (USA). The Palmdale School District was first formed in 1888. Approximately 28,000 students are enrolled in the Palmdale School District. were expected today to make their opening statements to the Van Nuys Superior Court jury, after two alternate jurors were selected. ``We're hoping for a fair trial,'' Melanie Lomax Melanie E. Lomax (April 12, 1950 – September 10, 2006), was a civil rights lawyer and former head of the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners. Lomax was the daughter of Lucius Lomax, an attorney, and Almena Davis Lomax, a civil rights activist and publisher of the , the attorney for Mary Corson, said outside court. The 13-year-old's 1999 death was ruled a homicide by the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County Coroner's Office, which said he died from damage to his spinal cord spinal cord, the part of the nervous system occupying the hollow interior (vertebral canal) of the series of vertebrae that form the spinal column, technically known as the vertebral column. caused either by a punch thrown by a 14-year-old classmate or from hitting the ground with his chin. Los Angeles County prosecutors declined in April 2000 to file charges against the classmate, saying he acted in self-defense (Law) in protection of self, - it being permitted in law to a party on whom a grave wrong is attempted to resist the wrong, even at the peril of the life of the assailiant. - Wharton. See also: Self-defense in what was termed an ``excusable homicide EXCUSABLE HOMICIDE, crim. law. The killing of a human being, when the party killing is not altogether free from blame, but the necessity which renders it excusable, may be said to be partly induce by his own act. 1 East, P. C. 220. .'' In their report, prosecutors said 11 witnesses said Corson started the fight after an argument in class, and that a teacher told investigators that after she separated the boys, Corson reached around her and punched the other boy, who then struck back. Corson fell, hitting his head on a concrete surface, the report said. Other witnesses and the boy's family have disputed that account, saying Corson was being held back by another student when he was punched the last time, and that the teacher had let go of the other boy before he threw the last punch. The case was transferred to the Van Nuys court after Lomax argued that Antelope Valley jurors might be tainted by pretrial publicity The right of a criminal defendant to receive a fair trial is guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The right of the press (print and electronic media) to publish information about the defendant and the alleged criminal acts is guaranteed by the First Amendment. . A previous judge, Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Michael Farrell, took himself off the case in February. Farrell, whose ruling to throw out the lawsuit against the Palmdale School District was reversed by an appeals court, removed himself, saying he wanted to avoid any appearance of bias. A three-judge appellate panel said in November 2001 that Farrell should reinstate the lawsuit against the school district. The order from the 2nd District Court of Appeal said it appeared Farrell erred in September when he granted the district's motion to have the lawsuit thrown out. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) CORSON |
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