As Missouri teen Kaylee Gain struggles to recover from a March beating, the high school she and her alleged attacker attend is accused of refusing to release records requested by state Attorney General Andrew Bailey.
Bailey is considering charging the teen as an adult, according to the Daily Mail.
Gain, 16, suffered a skull fracture and a brain bleed that put her in a coma for two weeks after the March 8 incident. Gain, who is white, and her alleged attacker, who is black, are students at Hazelwood East High School in St. Louis; the attack took place about a mile from the school amid a fight between two groups of teens.
Bailey has said the incident was spawned in the school’s DEI-obsessed culture.
The assaulter’s name is Maurnice DeClue. Don’t let her get away with this https://t.co/BA92QltqHa
— Redeemed Zoomer (@redeemed_zoomer) April 3, 2024
Bailey said that the school district made “egregious errors” about the incident and said the district is violating the law by not promptly sharing the records he has requested.
“Instead of directing your ire at a date reference or making ad-hominem attacks, you should follow Missouri law and do so immediately,” Bailey said.
Cindy Reeds Ownsby, an attorney representing the school district, wrote in a recent email that Bailey is the problem.
Do you think the attacker should be charged as an adult?
“It is disappointing to have an attorney general that intentionally disrespects public school district administrators and elected officials by sending error-filled correspondence to intimidate and threaten their leadership,” she wrote.
Ownsby said the records would be provided by April 15.
Last week, a judge ruled that a certification hearing will be held on May 10 to determine whether the alleged attacker will be tried as an adult, according to USA Today.
County attorneys sought the delay to accumulate information on the attacker’s social and family life.
“Our position is that she should not be certified,” defense attorney Greg Smith said.
“We understand that the law says that there has to be a certification hearing based on what she has been charged with. That’s non-negotiable but our position is she should not be certified. Everything is out there, about her being an honor student, she has taken AP courses, she has no history with the juvenile court. She has been the victim of bullying. There are other facts that we are going to save for court,” he said.
Video of the incident is graphic and could be disturbing for some viewers.
Kaylee Gain is alive and awake 3 weeks after Maurnice DeClue went too far in this fight near their St. Louis, Missouri high school
Kaylee suffered a skull fracture and brain damage. She can only walk with assistance and has limited conversation abilityhttps://t.co/09d3PZH9sD
— Brendan (@BrendanMcInnis) March 30, 2024
Gain family lawyer Bryan Kaemmerer will argue the attacker should be tried as an adult.
Kaemmerer revealed: “Kaylee is still showing signs of significant cognitive impairment during the limited conversations that she is able to have, and she tends to reiterate the same short sentences over and over. Although Kaylee seems to realize she is in hospital, she does not understand why she is there,” he said, according to the Mirror.
“Given the particularly violent nature of this assault, and also taking into account the devastating injuries that Kaylee has incurred, it is difficult to imagine a more appropriate case for a juvenile to be certified as an adult,” Kaemmerer said.
