Dreshawn's Defense

This story is about my nephew, Dreshawn Rogers. At 14 years old, this young man has experienced what many have only witnessed in movies. He is the oldest of 4 kids, raised by a single mother in a Seattle neighborhood plagued by poverty and inner-city violence. They have spent most of their lives without secure housing, bouncing between hotels and shelters, at times even sleeping in cars and on the streets.

After nearly four years of having nowhere to call home, I asked his mom, Precious, to join me in the small town of Ellensburg, Washington. Unfortunately, this meant they had to leave their historically black community and move to a predominately white town.

Dreshawn and his family were finally offered a permanent home at an affordable housing complex in Ellensburg last June. Naturally, he and his siblings became friends with other children in the neighborhood.

One day at the end of October, Dreshawn was playing with one of his neighborhood friends, and as they were chasing each other around with water guns, Dreshawn tripped another boy. The child who fell got up and walked away, as did Dreshawn, but later ended up with a leg injury and quickly blamed it on Dreshawn, claiming he intentionally hurt him. Dre was subsequently arrested on a felony charge of Assault II, an excessive charge for a child playing with friends - especially one with no criminal background, getting good grades, and playing on multiple sports teams.

In the past couple of years since this family moved to Ellensburg to build a better life, they have encountered a seemingly endless amount of racist and discriminatory treatment from the schools, police, and even their neighbors.

The white mother of the injured child has been documented making racist remarks in the past, and we believe that her accusations in this case, and those of her son, are steeped in racist ideologies. They don’t see Dreshawn as a child who was playing with his friend. Quoting the mother’s direct words, they see him as a “thug who doesn’t belong in this town.”

Unfortunately, we have documented reasons to believe that the responding police officer is also racist. He interviewed the injured child but never spoke to Dreshawn. In addition, some direct witnesses volunteered statements, but the officer refused to take them.

The first contact Dre had with the police was the day they came to arrest him, and he was so terrified the police might kill him that he raised his hands in the air and burst into tears.

After everything he’s had to overcome in his life, he certainly doesn’t deserve to have a felony on his record for a crime he did not commit. The court-appointed public defender provided to him has not made any attempts to contact either Dre or his mom Precious, and has not had time to do the work necessary to prove his innocence.

We are in dire need of your help to hire a private defense attorney for Dreshawn. We need someone committed to doing the work that will protect this boy and the bright future he has ahead of him. The bar is high in cases like this, and we don’t have enough money to pay an attorney’s retainer fee.

Can you help us show Dreshawn that he is worth fighting for? We need $4,000 for the private criminal defense attorney. This has been an overwhelming and terrifying time for Dreshawn and his family. If he is convicted, the criminal justice system in America will have let down another innocent black child.

Please help us pay for #DreshawnsDefense

Another way to support our efforts is by writing letters to these individuals:

Judge R. Sparks, Judge

Kittitas County: Superior Court

205 W 5th Ave, Ste 207

Ellensburg, WA 98926

Korin Ziegler

Kittitas County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office

205 W 5th Ave, Ste 213

Ellensburg, WA 98926

Thank everyone for following this story and reaching out to help this family. We greatly appreciate your kindness!