A Florida mother is fighting to dismiss battery charges against her 21-year-old daughter with autism.
Esther King has advocated for her daughter, Halle Hansen, since an incident at her school last year led to criminal charges. The case remains stalled because Hansen is legally incompetent to proceed.
During an Aug. 26 hearing, Hansen’s attorney, Michael Pizzi, asked Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Maria Verde-Yanez to dismiss the case.
However, the judge says Florida law requires the charges to remain open for a mandatory statutory period after declaring a defendant incompetent to stand trial.
“The law requires that after one year of remaining incompetent, I may dismiss; actually, I shall dismiss all charges in this after one year of the defendant remaining incompetent to proceed,” Verde-Yanez said.
Pizzi questioned why the case should remain open, arguing that Hansen’s autism would not change.
“She’s not gonna get restored. She’s autistic, she’s not gonna change. She is autistic, you need to drop this case. I’m not understanding – why are we gonna drag it out for another six months,” Pizzi said.
The incident happened last November at American Senior High in Hialeah.
Although Hansen is 21, she attends the school through a special program for students with disabilities.
King said she received a call from the school after her daughter got into an altercation with a school employee.
“They explained to me that she had an altercation where she hit a teacher in the back, and she kicked her, and that she was suspended from school,” King said.
According to WSVN, teacher’s aide Marie St. Hilaire filed a complaint with the State Attorney’s Office. She states she wants the case against the defendant to move forward.
“According to the victim, this is not the first time this has happened at the school, and she is not willing to dismiss the case at this time,” prosecutor Ian Muir said during the hearing.
King, however, insists that her daughter is not violent and questions why police arrested Hansen.
“She had a moment. She’s not violent – she’s the sweetest kid ever,” King said. “She’s a gift from God.”
“How could they arrest a kid that doesn’t even know what a summons is? That doesn’t even know the severity of what she did,” she added.
The case comes after another high-profile Florida prosecution involving a student with autism.
Brendan Depa attacked a teacher’s aide at Matanzas High School in 2023. The assault was captured on video. The Fifth District of Appeal ruled Depa’s conviction would stand in November 2025.
King believes surveillance footage from the incident could provide additional context and potentially support her daughter’s case.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools has yet to publicly comment on the incident or release surveillance footage from the school cafeteria.
“We get a subpoena to get the video camera out of the cafeteria of the incident, the whole world will change about this incident,” King told CBS News.
Atlanta Black Star reached out to Hansen’s family and the attorneys involved in the case. We did not receive a response prior to publication.
