Jury rules for school district in suspension over violent tale

UNION, Mo. (AP) -- Officials at an eastern Missouri school district were within their bounds in suspending a middle school student for her fictional story depicting violence against students and teachers, a federal jury has ruled.

The jury in St. Louis deliberated for about five hours Friday before ruling in favor of the Union R-11 School District and against Allison Pitchford, now a 16-year-old junior at Union High School.

David Nelson, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney representing Pitchford, said her suspension was part of a "post-Columbine overreaction," referring to the Colorado school massacre in 1999. He contended Pitchford's rights under the First and 14th amendments were violated.

The lawsuit sought to rescind a 10-day suspension that Pitchford already served, and to block another 10-day suspension pending the outcome of the case. U.S. Magistrate Judge Terry Adelman will rule on Pitchford's request for relief from the suspensions.

Pitchford, then an eighth-grader, was suspended in 2001 for her story. It noted at the beginning that it was not based on a true story but "could happen." It involved a murderer named Steve who slit one throat and shot someone else in the head. One victim in the story, Brandon, was "gutted."

Brandon Skaggs, whom Pitchford acknowledged was the Brandon in the story, testified that he was not afraid of Pitchford, but was nonetheless concerned. "You never know," he said.

"This case was important to us from the standpoints of safety and what administrators can or cannot do as far as student discipline is concerned," Union Superintendent VeAnn Tilson said.

During closing arguments, district attorney John Mohan said incidents at Columbine and elsewhere "created a whole new environment in schools," and "changed the context of bringing documents to school that create an unsafe environment."