Justice for Kierstin

 Click Here To Read Kierstin's Story On Change.org and Sign Her Petition 

Kierstin is a 13-year-old girl who survived childhood leukemia at the age of two. She suffers from some social and emotional diagnoses and learning disabilities that are a typical result of the type of chemotherapy treatment she needed as a toddler. Kierstin qualifies for protection under section 504 and is in the process of IEP evaluation for her disabilities, which means that her school is supposed to provide 'reasonable' accommodations so that she can have access to an education. 

Instead, they failed to properly follow her 504 plan, failed to properly complete her IEP evaluation within the period mandated by law, and neglected to protect her from sexual violence at school. Worst of all, when she reported that she had been sexually harassed by a boy at school they not only completely ignored her report as well as the reports of both patents, but they retaliated against her by filing a police report alleging her to have made terroristic threats. 

Kierstin was taken into police custody on April 6, 2018.  Kierstin remains incarcerated despite the facts that she has no prior criminal record and she insists that these claims are false, that she intends to bring no harm to any person, and that she never had any intention of causing harm or fear to any person or entity.

The school officials have made several different statements as to what these alleged threats were to various people and on various dates, some of which are documented in reports and emails. In spite of the fact that their story continues to change depending on which staff person you ask and on what day you are asking, the only statement that has been brought to the attention of the prosecutor is the statement made to a sheriff's deputy.  The public defender is not willing to invest the time needed, and likely does not have the time or resources needed, to argue these points as this is a very complex matter that requires the expertise of several different areas of law. (Education, civil rights, criminal defense to start...)  

We have decided to seek private representation and have located a law firm which possesses the necessary skills, time and resources to represent a case of this magnitude and has agreed to do so at a highly discounted rate. Though highly discounted, it is still out of our range of affordability. As such, this decision was not made lightly or without careful consideration. A major factor in our process of decision is simply that the cost of her incarceration has been billed to us (and will continue to incur cost so long as she remains incarnated) and is far further from our price range than the cost of legal representation. If left to the public defender, who to date has refused to take time to meet with us as the parents of the minor whom she represents, Kierstin will likely remain incarcerated for an indefinite amount of time. 

We are raising funds to hire this qualified law firm to represent Kierstin. Any amount would be much appreciated, and any support for her petition would be appreciated as well.