MONTICELLO · A second-grader who beat up a classmate and kicked, struck and scratched school officials committed five crimes, four of them felonies, a trial judge ruled.
But although Circuit Judge L. Ralph Smith agreed with prosecutors during Tuesday's two-hour hearing, he did not immediately find Johnnie Lee Morris delinquent, the juvenile court term for guilty.
The judge ordered the Department of Juvenile Justice to put together a report on Johnnie's history and scheduled a hearing for Jan. 25 to decide what to do with the boy.
The fracas that Johnnie is accused of causing happened Aug. 30 at Jefferson Elementary School.
Johnnie's mother took Johnnie to the Sheriff's Office, as requested, the next day. She said her 7-year-old son was held for several hours before being taken to a juvenile justice center.
Johnnie, whose name was made public by his family and lawyer, is living at home. He was charged with felony battery on a law-enforcement officer, felony batteries on school employees and one misdemeanor battery on the classmate.
Johnnie, who stands 4 foot 6 and weighs 60 pounds, sat quietly during Tuesday's hearing, at one point crawling into his mother's lap to whisper in her ear.
The boy still faces possible expulsion from the Jefferson County school system. Though he has been out of school for nearly three months, teachers have been sending assignments to his home.
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