Cheney youth court gives teens a second chance

CHENEY – Cassie Roley, a 17-year-old Cheney High School student, was running late for a baby-sitting job on Jan. 14 when she was caught speeding.

She didn’t realize she was driving 45 miles an hour in a 25 mph zone until she was pulled over by a police officer.

“I just felt like such an idiot,” said Roley, who just got her driver’s license in October.

Since it was Roley’s first speeding ticket, the city of Cheney and its newly formed youth court is giving her a second chance before the ticket shows up on her driving record.

Roley and another teen driver, Jenna Hatch, were the youth court’s first defendants when it opened its first session March 20. A division of municipal court, youth courts can defer any first-time traffic infractions committed by 16- and 17-year-olds, provided that the young drivers agree to admit to the offense.

The two teen drivers were greeted by familiar faces when they walked into the courthouse. They even knew the judge and jury trying them, since they all go to the same school.

Terri Cooper, the administrator of Cheney Municipal Court, explained to Roley and Hatch exactly what would happen while court was in session and what they could expect by way of punishments.

“They’re nice, right?” Roley asked Cooper before the trial. It turned out that she had known the judge since kindergarten.

The youth court judge is Joe Krielkamp, a senior at Cheney High and a member of the Cheney Youth Commission. Krielkamp first heard about youth court through the commission’s director, Paul Simmons, who supervises the youth court along with Cooper, the court founder, and Greg Kelso, Cheney’s deputy court clerk.

Krielkamp was joined by the court clerk, Katelyn Todd, who took time off from the high school’s production of “Fiddler on the Roof” to fulfill her civic duty.

“Please rise,” Todd instructed the courtroom. “The Cheney Youth Court is now in session. All rise for Judge Krielkamp presiding.”

Since this was the court’s inaugural session, Judge Gregory Tripp, Cheney’s municipal judge, marked the occasion with a few words.

“This is a great opportunity to resolve actual cases,” Tripp told those assembled.

There were only two jurors serving that night, Haley Seipp, a Cheney High senior, and Katie Haslebacher, an eighth-grader at Cheney Middle School.

The jurors and Krielkamp heard the charges against Roley, who was also driving with an expired insurance card. The police officer had given her a verbal warning about the insurance card and issued a ticket for $160. After the charges were read, Roley was given a chance to explain her side of the story to the court.

She said she was running late to baby-sit at the home of her youth pastor when she was pulled over.

One juror asked if Roley had received any punishments at home for her offense.

“My mom took away my license for a month,” she told the court.

Hatch was pulled over Oct. 3 for driving 35 mph in a school zone. She said later that her ticket would have cost her $273.

“It was a school morning and I was running late,” Hatch told the court.

She said since she was late, there weren’t many children in the area. She felt the officer was professional and was just doing his job.

“If you speed and get pulled over, you are going to be even more late,” Hatch told the court. She added that she received a lecture from her parents about the dangers of speeding.

The court sentenced each of the two speeders to take a “Reduce the Risk” traffic safety class, and to complete 10 hours of community service at the Cheney Recycling Center or other approved agency.

Once they have completed their class and community service, the tickets will be wiped from their driving records.

It’s an experience that Hatch and Roley won’t soon forget.

“Even if you’re late, speeding is not worth it,” Roley told the court. “It’s just not a smart idea.”