Dustin Howard charged as a juvenile

To make matters worse, it appears as thought Dustin, his friends, and his attorney are trying to make it seem like Dakota requested and set up the fight 3 weeks in advance. One of my questions is this... if Dakota set up the fight, why was he alone and Dustin had 5 of his friends with him, 2 of which recorded it? One of the "witnesses" that took the stand for Dustin even lied and stated that it was Dakota's idea. All of the news channels have shown the heart-wrenching 30 second video that shows Dakota was trying to defend himself and never even hit Dustin. There was also the police interrigation video in which Dustin admits that Dakota asked him twice to stop and since he "looked alright" he didn't think much about it until he didn't move anymore. My child attends the same high school and yesterday the witness that appeared in court was congratulated by another "witness" for lying on the stand and "covering Dustin's ass". All the other boys are still living their regular lives and making extremely crude comments about Dakota with no consequences for their actions. It is just amazing that the judge was not able to see through all of the crap and b.s. in the defenses' stories. I guess that just goes to show that it's much easier to blame the victim than actually hold somebody accountable for their actions. It's just sickening that there is no respect for the dead anymore, whether you like them or not. Finally, I hope that none of the witnesses or Dustin's friends/acquaintences ever need to rely on the help of strangers or for someone to step up and tell the truth!! It would be a damn shame if they didn't get the needed help because someone didn't like them.

Trench,
Thanks for updating the information on Dakota, those of us that knew him as a good friend appreciate it and are happy to hear that others feel the same way as we do about what should have happened.