2008 Woodie Awards
District granted summary judgment against student who threatened professor
Former student "surrenders him unto the vengeance of God."
By Martin Herrera
Issue date: 11/21/08 Section: News
Originally published: 12/3/08 at 6:45 PM CSTLast update: 12/15/08 at 9:02 PM CST
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The judgment grants a permanent injunction barring O'Neal from entering district property or communicating with its students and employees in a threatening manner, especially theater and speech communication Instructor Charles Falcon.
On the same day as the hearing, The Ranger reported the installation of buzzer-activated doors at Chancellor Bruce Leslie's office and the placement of a department of public safety officer in the lobby. An official reason for the increased security was not given; however, the district's legal services did acknowledge the morning's hearing.
The district sought to ban O'Neal after she made ominous threats against Falcon in a lawsuit filed earlier this year in the 73rd District Court.
Attorneys for Falcon removed the suit to U.S. District Court.
In that suit, O'Neal alleges Falcon defamed her during classroom critiques and deprived her of property when he issued her a grade of B instead of the A she felt she deserved.
O'Neal was asking for $500,000 in damages and an amended grade but stated in her legal filing that she would forgo the relief and punitive damages she sought if she could legally "blow the back of his head out."
She also alluded to a "knee-jerk reflex" to want to shoot someone like Falcon whom she characterized with bigoted slurs.
Using her statements from court documents and interviews with local television media outlets, legal counsel for the district petitioned for the summary judgment.
Attorney Bruce Spindler of Langley & Banack Inc., representing the district in the case against O'Neal, said the judgment "concludes all matters before the court."
O'Neal, who represented herself, has 30 days to file an appeal. She was not in court.
In the separate lawsuit filed against Falcon now in U.S. District Court, O'Neal submitted a motion Nov. 12 for a hearing to "surrender Charles Falcon unto the vengeance of God."
Citing the "scriptural council given by Jesus Christ during his sermon on the mount," O'Neal wrote, "I henceforth and forevermore forgive Charles Falcon of all his transgressions against me and can prosecute him not, as I surrender him unto the vengeance of God."
Retha Karnes, associate general counsel for the district, said Wednesday she did not think the motion in its present form would officially change the status of that case.
She explained the motion might not have met all of the legal requirements to affect an official response from the court.
Karnes expected the district would file another motion asking the court to have O'Neal clarify her intent.
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David O'Rourke
posted 12/16/08 @ 1:05 AM CST
"I henceforth and forevermore forgive Charles Falcon of all his transgressions against me and can prosecute him not, as I surrender him unto the vengeance of God. (Continued…)
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