NORTH CAROLINA, USA — Two bullies who reportedly beat an 8-year-old Texas boy unconscious at school will not face charges.
Christian Boynton is still recovering in the hospital with a brain bleed. But under Texas law, the third and fourth graders who beat him up are too young to be criminally charged.
“They beat him to the point of unconsciousness so I guess they continued to pound on him they went through his backpack," Boynton's older sister said.
She says her sweet little brother is suffering, but still giving his bullies the benefit of the doubt.
“He told me he was like maybe they’re just having a rough day. He’s so nice and kind that he can’t even fathom the fact that someone would want to hurt him or be cruel to him," she said.
Others are not so quick to let the bullies off that easy.
After Christian’s story went viral, demands came in from across the country for the bullies, third and fourth graders, to be criminally charged.
But under Texas law, they can’t be. In the lone-star state children under 10 can not be criminally culpable.
Some states don’t have a minimum age at all.
North Carolina does. In the tar-heel state kids as young as 6 can face criminal charges.
That’s the lowest minimum age on law books in the whole nation.
A bill filed by state Representative Marcia Morey this year would raise that minimum age to 10, the same as the law in Texas, and most other states.
She says kids younger than that are usually too young to understand formal legal consequences, and shouldn't have to carry the burden of delinquency the rest of their lives.
The bill passed the house and is now in senate committee, where it’s been stuck since May.
Christian’s story, though, is an example of why bill opponents think the north Carolina law should stay how it is, saying any child who could beat another unconscious should be criminally charged.