WALNUT CREEK (Reuters) - A 13-year-old California boy who was facing a possible eight years in juvenile prison for a spitball attack on a fellow student was given a much lighter sentence on Thursday -- although he will still log some time behind bars.
Jeffrey Figueroa, who made national headlines after he was convicted of two felonies for injuring a 14-year-old boy with the speedy spitball, was ordered to spend a spend a total of one week in juvenile detention -- logged on weekends -- in a case that his lawyer said showed prosecutors intent on "criminalizing childhood behavior."
"These kids aren't going to get into any trouble. We're going to keep them in the house," Jeffrey's father, Steve Figueroa, told reporters after the hearing, which also saw Jeffrey's 14-year-old brother given a slightly lesser sentence for egging Jeffrey on in the spitball incident.
In addition to their time in juvenile detention, both boys were ordered to attend anger management classes, told to obey a 7 p.m. curfew as part of home probation and instructed to undergo counseling.
They will both also be required to perform up to 150 hours of community service at a local eye bank.
Figueroa admitted that he shot the spitball -- a gum wrapper moistened with saliva -- on the first day of school last September at a middle school in the San Francisco suburb of Walnut Creek, California.
While Figueroa said he was not aiming at anybody in particular, the spitball hit a 14-year-old boy in the right eye, requiring a trip to the hospital and surgery.
Last month Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Araceli Ramirez found Jeffrey guilty of battery causing serious bodily injury and mayhem, both felonies. His brother was found guilty on a lesser charge.
Numerous neighbors testified at Thursday's sentencing hearing, saying the boys frequently ran wild in the neighborhood and at times appeared threatening.
Ramirez, while declining to throw the book at the boys, did have sharp words for both the young men and their parents, saying they had been "in denial" about their sons' behavior.
Figueroa's lawyer, Caren Johnson, criticized Contra Costa County District Attorney Robert Burke as overreacting to the case, saying prosecutors were intent on "criminalizing childhood behavior."
"I've got little boys. They've got swords, they whack each other with swords. What if they whack a neighbor kid with a sword. Is Burke going to charge my little 5-year-old with battery?" she said.
But the principal investigator for the district attorney's office testified that both boys were frequently out of control and needed to be taught a lesson.
"Normal boy activity is responsible and does responsible things," said investigator Mark Ernst.
"Occasionally they may do something that they shouldn't do, but they generally respect authority, respect adult figures and correct their behavior."
Burke, speaking after the sentencing, said he was fairly satisfied with the sentence but that Jeffrey Figueroa's spitball victim was still being treated for damage to his eye.
"I couldn't replace that young man's eye, and that's what we'd all like to have happen. So I guess you never feel like you've done everything you could do," Burke said.
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