Teenager still haunted after being jailed at age 10 for non-existent crime
By Jeremy Finley
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MURFREESBORO, Tennessee (WSMV) — Za’Cari Lillard knows a thing or two about wrestling.
The 16-year-old proudly shares the videos of him wresting for his high school team.
But ask him about what it was like to be 10 years old in solitary confinement in the Rutherford County jail for day for a crime that doesn’t exist, he grows quiet, staring straight ahead.
“Is it hard to talk about?” asked News4 Investigates.
“Yeah, sometimes. I don’t really talk about it,” Lillard said.
The lingering fear from his incarceration as a child is something he still wrestles with, according to his parents.
“It’s like we can’t get past this,” said Nicole Alexander, Lillard’s mother.
Lillard is among the estimated 1,500 children who, according to a federal lawsuit, were arrested and jailed for crimes that didn’t exist in Rutherford County, resulting in a federal judge ordering the county to pay families $6 million.
Rutherford County Judge Donna Davenport has been accused of ordering the arrests and jailing.
A series of reporting by Nashville Public Radio and ProPublica first revealed what happened with Lillard and 10 other children who were arrested simply for watching a fight off school grounds.
Lillard, who maintains he never even witnessed the fight, said he remembers, at ten-years-old, his mother having to turn him in to police.
“They actually put handcuffs on you?” asked News4 Investigates.
“They put handcuffs on me,” Lillard said. “As soon as I got in there, I started crying. I was scared.”
Lillard said he remembers being put in solitary confinement in the jail for days.
“I only came out for a short time. Probably like an hour or less,” Lillard said.
Lillard’s parents say the change in him has been profound; they describe him as rebellious and distant, not the honor roll student he was at age 10.
The Lillard family, who said they were unaware of the lawsuit and the payment of $6 million to families, have now filed their own federal lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims Lillard, who also goes by his Indian tribal name of “Wild Fire,” is among a protected class where an Indian child cannot be taken from his parents.
“I feel like they basically kidnapped my son,” Anderson said.
Even though Davenport has announced she will step down in September following widespread criticism, Lillard’s parents believe she should face stricter punishment for violating her judicial oath.
“In the same breath, she broke it. And went against it. To some children,” said Corey Lillard, Lillard’s father.
News4 Investigates repeatedly called Judge Davenport to request an interview, but a spokeswoman for Rutherford County said because of the pending lawsuit, Davenport is not commenting.
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