Posted:
Jun 13, 2013 6:17 PM EST
Updated:
Jun 14, 2013 10:12 AM EST
Suspended and arrested after refusing to change his NRA shirt.
Today,
14-year-old Jared Marcum appeared before a judge and was
officially charged with obstructing an officer.
A $500 fine and up to a year in jail, that's the penalty that Jared
could face, now that a judge has allowed the prosecution to move
forward with it's obstructing an officer charge against him.
"Me, I'm more of a fighter and so is Jared and eventually we're
going to get through this," Jared's father Allen Lardieri said. "I
don't think it should have ever gotten this far."
The Logan County Police Department initially claimed that the
at-the-time 8th grade Logan Middle School student was arrested for
disturbing the education process, obstructing an officer and Lardieri
says that officers even went as far as threatening to charge Jared with
making terroristic threats.
"In my view of the facts, Jared didn't do anything wrong," Ben
White, Jared's attorney said. "I think officer Adkins could have done
something differently."
Prosecuting attorney Michael White refused to respond to any questions, as did Logan Police.
We obtained official court documents from both sides of this case.
On one hand, the arresting officer from the Logan City Police
Department, James Adkins, claims that when Jared refused to stop
talking, that hindered his ability to do his job, hence, the obstruction
charge. On the other side, Ben White points out that nowhere in the
arresting officer's petition, does it mention Jared ever making any
threats or acting in a violent manner.
"Every aspect of this is just totally wrong," Lardieri said. "He
has no background of anything criminal, up until now and it just seems
like nobody wants to admit they're wrong."
Ben White says he will continue working to have the charges against
Jared dismissed. If that doesn't happen in the coming weeks, Jared
will be back in court on July 11th.
