Pennsylvania teen files for appeal over recording alleged bullies

According to a USA Today report, attorney Jonathan Steele for 15 year-old Christian Stanfield has filed an appeal to challenge the conviction ruling by a Pennsylvania court regarding his recording of students who allegedly bullied him. Steele told the news agency that Stanfield has been bullied at his South Fayette High School in McDonald beginning of the school year and opted to document an occurring by chance. The teenager has been diagnosed with anxiety disorders, comprehension delay and ADHD.

Steele said, "Christian wanted to show his mom how bad it was, so he took his iPad and recorded audio of the bullying."

Love, who had said in a March 19 hearing before South Fayette District Justice Maureen McGraw-Desmet, did not expect that the bullying of her son was that severe.

Upon hearing the recording, Love contacted the school administrators the next day. Stanfield was then called to the principal's office, wherein upon arrival, was searched by officials and found the iPad used to record the incident. According to the hearing transcript, Stanfield was instructed to delete the recording. School principal Scott Milburn then called the police to report Stanfield for a potential wiretapping case.

Although police did not charge the teenager with wiretapping, he was charged for disorderly conduct, USA Today said. McGraw-Desmet later found Stanfield guilty and had him pay a $25 fine and pay court costs.

Love, according to the hearing transcript, claimed that prior to the recording incident, she did report bullying incidents, and cited that at one point, her son was thrown with spitwads.

Assistant principal Aaron Skrbin said about the alleged incident as claimed by Stanfield's camp, "To be blunt, I would not classify that as bullying unless I saw stuff that was occurring consistently over a period of time."

Steele said the teenager is still attending the same school. USA Today said Stanfield's appeal court hearing is set for April 29.

Tags

South Fayette High School, South Fayette District Justice Court

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