MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The attorney for a 10-year-old Black child who urinated in a parking lot announced Tuesday they were rejecting a probation agreement for the Senatobia, Mississippi, boy.
On Dec. 15, 2023, Tate County Youth Court Judge Rusty Harlow sentenced the boy to three months' probation and ordered him to write a two-page book report on the late NBA star Kobe Bryant. Attorney Carlos Moore said the terms of the probation are “unjust and inappropriate for a child of such a young age.”
Moore said in a release that he believes the boy is being treated unfairly and “in a manner more suited to a criminal rather than a child.”
In a filing with the court, Moore asked that the case be dismissed “because the arresting officer has been terminated for executing an improper arrest of a minor.” The filing asks that if the court chooses not to dismiss, then a date should be set for a trial.
“We cannot in good conscience accept a probation agreement that treats a 10-year-old child as a criminal. The terms proposed are not in the best interest of our client, and we will take all necessary steps to challenge them.”
Before the sentence was handed down, Moore had previously said the prosecution threatened to upgrade a charge of “child in need of supervision” to the more serious charge of disorderly conduct if they took the case to trial.
"I thought any sensible judge would dismiss the charge completely. It's just asinine," Moore said. "There were failures in the criminal justice system all the way around."
The child's mother has said her son urinated behind her vehicle while she was visiting a lawyer's office in Senatobia, Mississippi, on Aug. 10. Police officers in the town of about 8,100 residents, 40 miles (64 kilometers) south of Memphis, Tennessee, saw the child urinating and arrested him. Officers put him in a squad car and took him to the police station.
Senatobia Police Chief Richard Chandler said the child was not handcuffed, but his mother said he was put in a jail cell, according to NBCNews.com.
Days after the episode, Chandler said the officers violated their training on how to deal with children. He said one of the officers who took part in the arrest was " no longer employed," and other officers would be disciplined. He didn't specify whether the former officer was fired or quit, or what type of discipline the others would face.
RELATED: Family of 10-year-old taken to jail for urinating in public demands answers from Senatobia leaders
The Associated Press contributed to this report.