Shaquanda Cotton - The Criminal Charge

The Criminal Charge

Cotton was charged with felony assault on a public servant by Lamar County District Attorney Gary D. Young. After the story received national attention, Young claimed to have offered a plea deal to reduce the sentence to a misdemeanor count with two years of supervised probation. Cotton's attorney, Wesley Newell, confirmed the plea deal was indeed offered in a statement to the Houston Chronicle. Cotton maintained her innocence, meaning she declined the plea bargain offer in favor of a bench trial.

Cotton's jury consisted of three men and three women, one of whom was African-American. After testimony, the jury reached a guilty verdict on the higher felony count of assaulting a public servant in less than 10 minutes.

During the punishment phase of the trial, prosecutors recommended sentencing to the Texas Youth Commission facility. Judge Superville stated that this sentence would be a "last resort" for the case. Prosecutors argued that Cotton's mother Creola was an impediment to probation and stated that her response to any disciplinary problem for her daughter at school was "to paint school officials as racist." School officials including Johnson testified to this point. Johnson stated that after he wrote Cotton up, Creola Cotton "berated him" and called him an "Uncle Tom."

Creola Cotton denied making this allegation against Johnson. Civil rights activist Brenda Cherry was featured in an interview with the African American News and Issues newspaper, where she stated that a "plantation mentality" existed in the Paris school district. Cherry described Johnson and Althea Dixon, another African-American teacher and vice principal, who testified about Shaquanda's disciplinary problems, as "Plantation Negroes" who have "sold their souls to the master for crumbs and a few pieces of silver". Cherry also claimed the Paris Independent School District was racist and punished black students at eight times the rate of white/other students.

Paris High School Principal Gary Preston testified at the sentencing phase that the school's attempts to discipline Shaquanda "regularly got road-blocked with non-support of her mother." However, he also stated he had never had a problem with Shaquanda and she had always done what he told her to do. He testified that school staff has a right to do anything to students outside of bodily harm if they fail to obey. Judge Superville then sentenced Cotton to up to seven years in the Texas Youth Commission facility.