Criminal trial over death of 13-year-old Guiding Hands student Max Benson postponed

Nearly five years after 13-year-old Max Benson died at his Eldorado Hills high school, the criminal trial over his death against a teacher and two school administrators facing manslaughter was adjourned Friday.

Eldorado Supreme Court Judge Mark Ralphs adjourned the trial after defense attorney Kelly Babino vacated her position. Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Babineau as Nevada District Judge to replace outgoing Judge Thomas M. Anderson.

The defendants — school website administrator Cindy Keller, Guiding Hands principal Starrann Meyers and teacher Kimberly Wohlwend — face up to four years in prison if found guilty.

Wohlwend is accused of being among those who held Max and put him in a prone position. The boy died in the hospital a day after the incident.

After canceling the original trial date of February 28, Ralphs set a new date for March 3.

David Fisher, who replaced Babineau at Friday’s hearing, said he was unsure if he could revisit the case and agree to a delay of only a week.

“I understand the urgency,” Fischer told the court. “We need to move things forward.”

The trial has been delayed several times since the charges were filed the following year, due in part to the coronavirus pandemic.

The school, which closed after Max’s death, and the women are also facing a separate civil lawsuit filed on behalf of a Davis family.

According to prosecutors and the civil lawsuit, Max was held face down for one hour and 45 minutes for allegedly spitting at a classmate, which was one of the behaviors he exhibited when not receiving adult support. The civil suit also alleges that Wohlwend chained Max to the ground. The state Department of Education, which also appears in the civil suit along with the Davis Unified School District and other districts that sent students to Guiding Hands, said that in 2018 school employees used “force that is neither reasonable nor necessary under the circumstances.”

The story goes on

The civil lawsuit alleges that the staff “applied long-term restraint to Max while lying down and did not provide Max with qualified medical care,” and also did not perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation in a timely manner. The lawsuit alleges that an ambulance was not called for nearly half an hour after Max passed out.

After Max’s death, several bills were introduced in the Legislative Assembly.

In 2018, Newsom signed legislation that would only allow teachers and staff to restrain and isolate students if their behavior poses a clear threat or danger.

On Tuesday, San Jose State Senator Dave Cortese introduced a bill to ban schools from placing students in a “prone” position that physically or mechanically holds students in a face-down position.” Recumbent restraint is often used for students with special needs. Max, who has autism, was mentioned in Cortese’s press release about the bill.

“Lying restraint is an outdated and barbaric form of discipline that has no place in our classrooms,” said Cortese, a member of the Senate Education Committee. “Instead of holding back, educators should respond to students who appear to pose a threat to themselves or others with positive behavioral interventions that keep all students safe.”

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