Parents Claim “Marsy’s Law” Means They Have A Right To Demand Whispering Pines Elementary School Parent Stays In Jail. What Do You Think?
BY: STAFF REPORT | BocaNewsNow.com
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2024 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — A group of parents whose children attend Whispering Pines Elementary School in West Boca Raton are trying to raise money to hire an attorney with the sole objective of keeping another parent — Chirag Patel — in jail. As we’ve reported, Patel was arrested last week near the school on charges unrelated to anti-Semitic statements he allegedly yelled at staffers, anti-Semitic statements he posted to social media, a reference to the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre, and other interactions at Whispering Pines. He was only charged with burglary and voyeurism after police allegedly watched him peer into someone’s house.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office requested a mental health hold on Patel once he was booked into jail. A judge earlier this week agreed with prosecutors — and several parents — that he should remain locked up. But questions are now being asked about parents seemingly seeking Patel’s permanent incarceration on charges unrelated to the elementary school. The parents claim they are “victims” under Florida’s extremely controversial and largely struck-down Marsy’s Law.
Here’s what parent Kelly Colby posted to “GoFundMe” in a campaign that has raised roughly $10,000 as of Thursday afternoon — funds set to be used to hire an attorney to represent the “parent victims.”
Dear Community Families: In light of the recent events in our community, a group of moms consulted a prominent local criminal defense attorney this week, who is also a state district representative, to see if there is anything more we can do to keep our children and community safe. He advised us that we could form a class (a group of community members) to petition the court to allow him to represent us in Mr. Patel’s case as an advocate for our community.
In Florida there is a victim’s bill of rights called Marsy’s Law, where we are all considered victims (indirectly) due to the fact that Mr. Patel has been threatening our community and school. So we figured if we can do anything, now is the time to take any action we have available to us – in addition to the amazing work our community has already done and will continue to do – to ensure our community doesn’t end up being the next one to endure a school or community tragedy.
Hiring this attorney and filing this petition will grant our attorney access to all court hearings and updates, enabling him to present our concerns directly to the judge and prosecution. Our aim in doing this is to ensure the maximum charges and sentences are pursued to keep Mr. Patel away from our community.
In summary, this will allow our attorney to be our advocate and liaison, acting as a direct voice for all of us. This does not interfere with the current charges against Mr. Patel, but it does help the prosecution as it shows a wide community concern. Our goal is to reach out to as many families in this community as possible, all of whom are concerned with safety, to form as big a class of community members as possible. The class would keep all names anonymous and would just count numbers of community members.
If you would like to be involved as a number in the class, and support this ongoing effort, we have set up this GoFundMe account for contributions towards attorney fees and attorney hours on the case on our behalf. Anything left over will be donated back to put safety measures in place in our community. If you wish to remain anonymous on the GoFundMe page, you can donate anonymously. We will use each donation as a number to count in the class.
Whatever you can contribute is very appreciated. Thank you for supporting our community and families. The larger we get our class numbers, the more weight it may have in court! Please be assured, participation in this class will be kept completely anonymous.”
Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronbweg issued this statement: “This defendant was a danger to the community. That’s why we asked for him to be kept behind bars pending the trial … you have someone out there making specific threats against Jewish families … you have to take it seriously.”
What do you think of this parent-led effort? Are parents victims of Chirag Patel? Do they have a right to seek extended incarceration even though the actual charges filed against him are unrelated to school activity? Share your thoughts, below.
This guy is a threat to our community and children and should be in jail. He is a time bomb waiting to happen. He gave you a warning, do you need more than that?? Do you need another massacre???? He’s right there in the open.
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