I tell you people this one blew my mind and i guess shows how cruel
people can be.

Vineland, Minnesota - The 11-year-old boy was led from his school in
handcuffs, held overnight in a juvenile detention center, and hauled
into court in shackles and an orange prison jumpsuit.

His crime? Missing a court date to testify as the victim of an
assault.

The treatment of the boy, a member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe,
has reignited a decades-old feud between the tribe and officials from
the surrounding county in central Minnesota.

"There's other people out there they could have picked to make an
example of," said Kristie Lee Davis-Deyhle, the boy's mother, in her
first interview about the case. "Not an 11-year-old."

Tribal leaders are calling for the resignation of the Mille Lacs
County attorney, Jan Kolb, who says she was just carrying out policy in
the face of a long history of band members ignoring subpoenas.

"I don't know that it should have been done differently," said Kolb,
who was first elected in 1993. The uproar, she said, "is a way to make
Mille Lacs County look like it's racist."

The Mille Lacs Band, now the largest employer in the county, and
some of its neighbors have long had a tense relationship in their shared
home around Lake Mille Lacs, Minnesota's second-biggest lake and a
choice spot for walleye fishing and other outdoor recreation.

The official policy of the county is that the Mille Lacs Band's
reservation no longer exists because of legal decisions dating to the
early 20th century. Federal courts have rejected a lawsuit to that
effect, but Kolb and the Mille Lacs County Commission maintain their
position.

Kolb caused a flap last year by detailing the policy in a memo to
county department heads. Soon after, members of the local American
Indians Veterans Post 52 and the Ladies Auxiliary were booed by some
spectators while riding a float in the Fourth of July parade in the
Mille Lacs County town of Isle.

Against that backdrop came the arrest of the 11-year-old band
member.

The boy was allegedly the victim of an assault by a 13-year-old
classmate. But, Kolb said, the county was having trouble prosecuting the
13-year-old because the younger boy and his mother ignored subpoenas and
missed several court dates. Davis-Deyhle said the family never got the
subpoenas, and a tribal lawyer said the county is not diligent in making
sure subpoenas are served.

When the boy missed a court hearing in early April, Kolb's office
requested the judge issue a warrant for his arrest. A tribal officer was
dispatched to his school, where he was handcuffed and transported to the
detention center. Davis-Deyhle talked to her son on the phone that
afternoon.

"He told me he didn't understand what was going on. I could hear the
tears, the fear in his voice," Davis-Deyhle said.

The boy spent the night at the juvenile detention center, about 60
miles away in St. Cloud. At the court hearing the next morning, in which
the boy was brought into court in an orange jumpsuit, handcuffs and
shackles, prosecutors announced that they wouldn't press charges and
that he was free to go.

Kolb is unapologetic about the boy's treatment. She said the entire
point of the prosecution was to make him safer against the 13-year-old
aggressor.

"This family knew his appearance was needed in court," Kolb said.
"Someone needed to step in and say, we'll get him there next time. Some
showing of accountability or acknowledgment of the criminal justice
system."

Last week, Benjamin asked the state attorney general to intervene
and force Kolb to change her practices; lawyers from that office went to
Mille Lacs County and are now determining if they have jurisdiction.

The American Civil Liberties Union is also seeking a government
investigation, and Brunkow said the family is likely to file a federal
civil rights lawsuit.

FTA....failure to appear at show/cause hearing when there was summons
nets a bench warrant, and night in jail.....

this is what happens when you dont show up for court but it should have
been the parent as the boy is a minor and had no drivers licesne to get
to court if his parents refused.you can't tell me the victims parents
wouldn't know the court date of the alleged assailent..I sure as hell
would.

State, city and town shouldn't have any juristiction on reservations.
Never should've happened. Maybe I'm partial cuz I'm 1/3 Native American
and there is plenty of prejudice and that sounds like the case here.

I wonder how that state is doing in the sex crimes dept.
Pedofiles,rapist and such. They must have all that under control to be
worrying about an 11 boys being witness to a crime committed against
himself. You'd think Kolb was the victim.