Maurnice DeClue, a 15-year-old from Missouri, was painted to be a monster in the eyes of the public when a video emerged in March of a sidewalk fight between her and white schoolmate Kaylee Gain.
After the video went viral, conservative politicians used it to highlight “anti-white violence” and called for DeClue to be charged as an adult for first-degree assault, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years behind bars. Citing “radical DEI programs,” Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey used his bully pulpit to launch a widespread investigation into the Hazelwood School District in suburban St. Louis, where 90 percent of the 18,000 K-12 students are Black.
While the story continued to blow up in far-right circles, the court came back with its decision in June. DeClue was released on probation, lending credence to the belief that the fight was agreed to beforehand by both girls, as revealed by Gain’s father via the New York Post, and it was not DeClue’s intent to cause such severe harm.
DeClue’s case remained in juvenile court after a judge agreed with the juvenile officer’s recommendation that she not be charged as an adult. She was sentenced to court-supervised probation and released from juvenile detention, where she has been held for three months, her lawyer, Greg Smith, told local station KSDK last month. He added that the case was “resolved” on June 20.
“I think she understood the situation, she understood and accepted responsibility for her own conduct,” Smith said, explaining that the reduction in the assault charge came down to intent.
“We never believed she was guilty of assault in the first degree,” he added. “That’s knowingly causing serious physical injury, suggesting that was her intent all along to cause those serious injuries. Under the situation she found herself in, she was acting under the influence of sudden passion.”
DeClue was assigned a youth mentor and must complete community service hours and attend counseling sessions. She will report to the court every two weeks to monitor her progress, said Smith, who believes that an additional six months to a year of judicial monitoring may be required.
“She’s a fantastic student, she said she wants to get back to school,” Smith told KSDK.
After the attorney general suggested DeClue be tried as an adult, the teen’s family desperately tried to humanize their daughter to counter the stereotypes that were gaining traction online.
In a Change.org petition urging “compassion,” her family described DeClue as a multi-lingual honor-roll student with a heavy schedule of violin practice and volleyball games. “Prior to an incident on March 8th where she was seen in an altercation, she had never been in trouble. Her hard work as a scholar was tainted by the bullying she had to endure at school,” it read.
Meanwhile, Gain had been suspended from school the day before the fight, according to DeClue’s attorney Greg Smith. Smith said her suspension arose from a physical altercation with a different individual, and Gain was not allowed near school grounds that day.
“And despite that, she found her way back towards the neighborhood around the high school the following day at dismissal time,” Smith said.
In the viral video, the two girls face each other on a sidewalk near their high school, and as they step forward to fight, DeClue grabs Gain’s hair and quickly brings her to the ground as bystanders from both sides jump into the melee.
Gain suffered a fractured skull and a brain bleed after DeClue hit her head repeatedly into the cement. After being hospitalized for a month, Gain returned home to continue her rehabilitation, which includes physical and mental health therapy and at least one more operation to repair damage to her skull, her attorney Bryan Kaemmerer told KSDK.
High school-related fighting has been on the rise since the pandemic. The National Center for Education Statistics revealed that nearly half of the public schools surveyed saw an increase in fighting and threats between students in the 2021-2022 school year, the most recent data available.
The vast majority of schools — nearly 80 percent — said they need more mental health support for both students and staff. Unfortunately, Missouri teachers are among the worst-paid in the U.S., and the state is reeling from a persistent teacher shortage, reported NPR. Rather than investigations into “radical DEI programs,” as proposed by the state attorney general, Missouri school officials are simply asking for more resources and a living wage.
