Black child, 10, sentenced to probation for urinating in public

The child's attorney said he doesn't believe a White child would have been arrested under similar circumstances.

A 10-year-old Black child who urinated in a parking lot must serve three months’ probation and write a two-page book report on the late NBA star Kobe Bryant, a Mississippi judge has ordered.

Tate County Youth Court Judge Rusty Harlow handed down the sentence Tuesday after the child's lawyer reached an agreement with a special prosecutor. The prosecution threatened to upgrade the charge of “child in need of supervision” to a more serious charge of disorderly conduct if the boy's family took the case to trial, said Carlos Moore, the child’s attorney.

“I thought any sensible judge would dismiss the charge completely. It’s just asinine," Moore said. "There were failures in the criminal justice system all the way around.”

Moore said he doesn’t believe a White child would have been arrested under similar circumstances, and he couldn't find a similar instance of a child receiving a similar sentence for the same offense.

“I don’t think there is a male in America who has not discreetly urinated in public,” Moore said.