Of course, she never should have gone to jail at all but...
Bresha Meadows was 14 years old when she shot her father to death while he was sleeping in the summer of 2016. She originally faced an aggravated murder charge and possibly life in prison.
A few days ago, Meadows was tallowed to plead down to a charge of involuntary manslaughter. With time served (10 months) Bresha will be able to move to a residential mental health facility in 2 months where she'll stay for another 6 months.
Bresha Meadows was 14 years old when she shot her father to death while he was sleeping in the summer of 2016. She originally faced an aggravated murder charge and possibly life in prison.
A few days ago, Meadows was tallowed to plead down to a charge of involuntary manslaughter. With time served (10 months) Bresha will be able to move to a residential mental health facility in 2 months where she'll stay for another 6 months.
“This is a good child,” her attorney, Ian Friedman, said in Ohio’s Trumbull County Family Court. “She grew up in an environment where every adult failed her. … This did not have to happen.”
...It was never in dispute that Bresha shot her father, Jonathan Meadows, on July 28, 2016. The question was why.
As her family told it, Bresha took the only action she believed she could to save herself and her family from the man who was terrorizing them. [Her mother confirmed the abuse, as do court records]
As the months passed [with Bresha in juvenile detention], her case has become something of a cause célèbre, with criminal justice reform advocates pointing to her as an example of how black women and children are punished by the government for simply protecting themselves...
~ HUFF POST
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When you read the full story, you'll see that the legal system failed Bresha, her mother, and her siblings over and over again. Bresha really didn't have but one other choice -- runaway and leave her mother and siblings to fend for themselves.
Leaving your loved ones and everyone you know behind? That's not a real choice for a lot of girls.
It truly irks me, more than a little bit, that it was the 14 year old girl (instead of her 30 to 40 year old mother) who figured out they were going to have to protect themselves once the legal system let them down.
Actually, it more than irks me.
The number of women in jail for murder is but a fraction of the number of men that go to jail for murder. But of those women that do murder, studies show that up to 90% of those that killed men were killing their abuser.
That little girl, Bresha, shouldn't have been the one. I pray she gets all the help she needs in the residential mental health facility. To tell the truth I wish she was staying for a year with mandatory outpatient therapy for an additional year. I just wish somebody was court ordered to watch over her mental and emotional health until she's 18.
That little girl, Bresha, shouldn't have been the one. I pray she gets all the help she needs in the residential mental health facility. To tell the truth I wish she was staying for a year with mandatory outpatient therapy for an additional year. I just wish somebody was court ordered to watch over her mental and emotional health until she's 18.
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