Judge says 6-year-old should not take stand

Saying testifying in court against his own grandfather would do more damage to the psyche of a 6-year-old than any slap to the face, Judge Larry Ross threw out charges against a grandfather accused of leaving a palm print on the face of his grandson.

While not condoning slapping a child in the face, Ross, in dismissing child abuse charges against Roosevelt Fults, said he felt subjecting a child to the stress of perhaps putting his own grandfather in jail would far outweigh any slap.

?If we prosecuted every parent or grandparent that slapped a child, we would have to build a courthouse 10 times the size of this one,? Ross told Jennifer Dixon, who was prosecuting on behalf of her son. ?Adults shouldn?t be smacking children in the face but we shouldn?t be putting a 6-year-old in the position of testifying against his grandfather on something like this.?

Dixon maintained she saw what appeared to be a palm print on the side of her son?s face when she picked him up from his grandparents? custody. While suggesting the child and his 7-year-old sister would say Fults smacked the child, the two were never allowed to take the stand as Judge Ross put a stop to the case. He not only dismissed charges against Fults but also dropped harassment charges filed by the Fults family against Dixon.

Ross noted the exchange of criminal charges makes him believe the two sides are in a feud. He warned that using the children for a tug of war between families would only hurt the children in the end.

?You?re going to destroy a child if you keep this up,? Ross said in dismissing all charges and warning them to refrain from bringing their feud into the courtroom.