GREEN LAKE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A teen learned his punishment for a violent fight in a school cafeteria that was caught on camera.
The 15-year-old Berlin High School student switched his plea from a denial – the juvenile version of a not guilty plea – to no contest in juvenile court on Wednesday.
He received a year of formal supervision.
The charge stems from an April fight at Berlin High School, recorded in the cafeteria.
“Hopefully, that’s what it is, is it’s a one-time incident that won’t occur in the future,” Green Lake County Circuit Court Judge Mark Slate told the teenage boy.
The video that went viral shows the accused teen hitting another student in the head repeatedly. The suspect’s target falls to the ground, and the accused teen appears to stomp on the other student’s head, when the camera turns away.
“When you’re young, you make stupid mistakes and do stupid things,” Judge Slate said. “Hopefully, you’ll use this as a learning experience, so when you get older that won’t occur, because you’ll understand that there are consequences to your acts.”
Those consequences are a year of supervision, anger management classes and a written apology to the victim.
The boy’s attorney said he plans to return to Berlin High School in the third trimester, which is March of 2020.
The teen won’t be allowed to contact the victim either.
“The court does not consider incidental contact in the school a violation of that, so if you’re walking down the hallway, that’s not a violation, but you cannot seek out or contact the victim, otherwise,” Judge Slate explained.
The accused juvenile’s attorney also says he will avoid contact with the other student the best he can and says the students won’t have any of the same classes.
The teen was given the opportunity to speak in court before his sentencing but chose not to.
