Michigan judge refuses to release girl in missing homework case

A judge in the US state of Michigan ruled that a student detained after neglecting her homework and fighting with her mother cannot be released.

The 15-year-old black woman, identified by her middle name “Grace,” has been in juvenile detention since May.

“I miss my mother,” Grace told the court Monday. “I can control myself. I can be obedient.”

But the judge said the arrest was in her best interest for now. The case has sparked protests and claims of racism.

Judge Mary Ellen Brennan said the teenager had benefited from a residential treatment program and was not yet ready to return to her mother.

“I don’t have a question on my mind, if I accepted the request to release him home today, I would be making a mistake and doing him a poor service,” he told Grace, according to Michigan Radio.

Judge Brennan also said that the police had responded to multiple incidents between the mother and daughter, and that her arrest was the result of that.

“She was not detained because she did not turn in her homework … She was detained because she was a threat to her mother,” said the judge.

He also referred to the public scrutiny to which the case has been subjected, saying that “he would not allow himself to be influenced by public clamor or fear of criticism.”

The case was first highlighted last week in a report by the US news site ProPublica. After interviews with Grace’s mother, the outlet described how the teenager had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and had already been struggling with behavioral problems.

She was paroled in mid-April through a Zoom juvenile court hearing after facing an assault and robbery charge last year; One of the terms of probation was a requirement to do your school work.

ProPublica reported that Grace’s parole began coinciding with the first days of remote school work, and she quickly became overwhelmed without the in-person support of her teachers.

At a mid-May hearing in the Oakland County Family Court Division to decide whether Grace had violated her probation, Judge Brennan found the girl “guilty for not showing up for any school work and getting up for school “and called Grace a” threat to the community “due to previous charges against her, she said.

Hundreds of students joined a demonstration outside Grace’s school last week, calling for their release. The “Black Lives Matter” signs were held alongside the “Free Grace” signs.

“I know that if Grace were a 15-year-old white girl, she wouldn’t be in juvenile detention right now,” one mother, Sheri Crawley, told the local WDIV television news station.

Thousands of people also signed online petitions calling for his release.

Another hearing is scheduled for September, according to local media reports.