The boys, age 12, 15 and 16, also will have to abide by strict curfew guidelines, follow rules at home and school and pass all their courses.
If they don’t, the could be sentenced to a prison for teenagers.
Two of the boys, ages 15 and 16, are accused of possessing marijuana on Sept. 17 while at Skidmore-Tynan High School, a drug free zone.
The other boy, 12, is accused of possessing marijuana on the same day while at Moreno Middle School.
A fourth boy accused of a similar offense is scheduled to appear in court later this month.
All three boys, following the advice of their attorneys, waived their rights to a trial by jury and asked District Court Judge Mike Welborn to determine their guilt or innocence, and decide their punishment.
Assistant District Attorney Tim Cariker did not present evidence against the boys other than their written stipulations that they committed the offense.
Cariker recommended Welborn follow the punishment recommended by the juvenile probation department, which was to place the boys on probation until their 18th birthday.
Before he acted on Cariker’s recommendation, Welborn cautioned the boys that he could release them to their parents and place them on probation, place them in some sort of in-house therapy facility or even send them to a Texas Youth Commission facility, which is essentially a prison for children.
Welborn chose to release the boys to their parents and place them on probation.
He told the 12-year-old boy that if he successfully followed the terms of his community supervision for one year he would consider releasing him from probation. If he failed to abide by the terms of his probation, however, the boy would have to spend the next six years of his life on probation, Welborn warned him.
Welborn was disappointed to learn that the 15-year-old boy had been placed on probation in January for an offense he had committed last year.
“It doesn’t sound too good, does it?” Welborn asked the boy, referring to the young man’s failure to follow the terms of his probation.
“No, sir,” the boy agreed.
Welborn instructed each boy, who stood before his bench with their parents, to follow the terms of their community supervision to the letter, including following all rules at school and at home. He also told them they must take periodic drug and alcohol tests and pass their courses or he could consider them in violation of the terms of their probation and sentence them to TYC.
Welborn also instructed the boys that their juvenile record could follow them the rest of their lives. However, as juveniles, they could ask to have their criminal record sealed once they turn 18, he noted.
“But you have to earn that right by following the terms of your probation,” he told them. “You control your own destiny. You are controlled by your own actions and by what you do.”
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