At a preliminary hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to go to trial, the defense witness may have been the best prosecution witness.
Oct 31, 2007 - Mamie Hubbard-Washington, 64, is a special education teacher at Doris Reed Elementary School. She was arrested, accused of abusing several autistic children.
The sole defense witness today was the former** assistant principal who testified he did not see any physical or verbal abuse. The prosecution quickly established that he spent five to thirty minutes in the room.
Prosecutor Vicky Monroe inquired, "So, you were in there five to thirty minutes but for the other five-and-a-half hours of the day you didn't know personally what was going on in the classroom, did you?"Cheung also helped to hire the teacher and also says
Former Assistant Principal Randy Cheung paused and then replied, "I don't know personally."
he personally investigated at least two complaints by teacher's aides who testified previously that they witnessed the abuse first-hand. But Cheung says he found the complaints to be invalid even after parents took their concerns over his head to Clark County School District officials.He elaborated,
"Parents will do that all the time. They will call the region office or superintendent because they have a concern and they want something to be," Cheung continued.** No explanation of why he is "former" assistant principal. The aides testified previously.
Vicky Monroe inquired, "They want something to be done about it? Is that what you were about to say?"
Randy Cheung replied, "No, no, no. That's not... now you're leading!"
Both the defense and prosecution rested their cases Wednesday.
Jan 31, 2008 - Hubbard-Washington will be going to trial this summer. In the meantime, Clark County School District has now been named in a civil lawsuit alleging that administrators failed to remove an abusive teacher even after the abuse was officially reported by those who witnessed it first-hand in the classroom.
