CLAYTON — ºüÀêÊÓƵ County officials are recommending a girl charged with assault in a fight near Hazelwood East High School not face adult charges.
A hearing Friday revealed several new details about the upbringing and education of 15-year-old Maurnice DeClue, accused of beating 16-year-old Kaylee Gain and leaving her hospitalized with a skull fracture and brain bleeding.
Lawyers for both ºüÀêÊÓƵ County and Maurnice argued Friday the girl should remain in juvenile court because she has no prior criminal record and is relatively young.
Maurnice’s lawyer, Greg Smith, also noted that the police report indicated Kaylee threw the first punch in the fight, and Maurnice’s mother argued that her daughter had no intention of severely injuring Kaylee.
“This is a child — let’s not forget that,†Smith said after the hearing. “That’s why we have juvenile court.â€
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Kaylee’s family had called for Maurnice to be charged as an adult, but they stopped short of that on Friday.
They said in a statement that they “trust the judicial process,†and Kaylee’s stepmother said during the hearing that “a terrible choice made by two girls to solve their problems with violence caused one to go too far.â€
Friday’s hearing to determine if Maurnice is charged as an adult is mandatory because of the severity of the charges. A judge will decide in the next few weeks whether to accept the juvenile court’s recommendation.
The fight, which happened after school March 8, was part of a larger brawl about a quarter-mile from Hazelwood East High School. Maurnice repeatedly smashed Kaylee’s head into the concrete, and video of the assault and brawl went viral online, garnering national media attention and sparking calls for Maurnice to be charged as an adult.
Kaylee spent several days in a coma in the ICU after the fight. When she finally woke up, she was dazed and couldn’t speak, her stepmother said in court Friday.
Over time, she regained some of her ability to talk, but she still has short-term memory loss and needs to re-learn basic functions.
Maurnice’s mother, Consuella DeClue, cried as she recalled the days after the fight. Maurnice’s family and her church prayed for Kaylee’s recovery, she said.
“I think (Maurnice) was just defending herself,†Consuella DeClue said. “I don’t think my daughter had any intent or any thought of this to happen to (Kaylee).â€
Maurnice was adopted by her parents in 2008 and spent her entire life in the same home, her mother said. She was a well-behaved, “dynamic†learner who skipped seventh grade. Maurnice’s Spanish teacher from Hazelwood East said in court Friday that Maurnice often coaxed less-motivated students to participate in class.
And Maurnice laughed when a county deputy juvenile officer, Carolyn Belgeri, asked if she had a curfew.
“I don’t go anywhere,†Maurnice told her.
Belgeri said Maurnice has a low risk of re-offending and said she could benefit from services offered by the juvenile court system if she is convicted. Those options include at-home supervision, treatment at a private facility or a referral to the State Department of Youth Services.
“There is still time for the juvenile court to intervene,†she said.
Smith asked for Maurnice to be released from juvenile detention and allowed to stay at home with her parents on a GPS monitor while her case was pending, but the county’s attorney, Abbey McDonough, disagreed.
She noted that Maurnice may still be a threat to the community, and she and her family were still facing threats after outrage mounted over the video of the fight that surfaced online. The judge agreed and kept Maurnice in detention.
Still, political fallout from the fight continues.
The Hazelwood School District filed a complaint with the state’s Office of Chief Disciplinary Council against Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey after he launched an investigation into how diversity and inclusion practices in the school district “contributed†to the beating.
District officials called his investigation “frivolous†and inaccurate, and neither police nor school officials said they had any evidence that race played a role in the beating.
But school employees have received hateful messages from across the country, the district’s attorney wrote in the complaint.
“Employees answering phones are called the ‘n’ word or ‘n-lover,’†Ormsby wrote in the complaint. “Bomb threats have been made to individual employees and at schools, to which law enforcement have had to respond.â€