Teen in Carrington Incident Continued in Court

Authorities say a Champaign teenager charged with resisting arrest will return to court in two months, with hopes that alternative education programs will steer him on the right path.

16-year old Jeshaun Manning-Carter was arrested last October 9th, the same night that Kiwane Carrington was fatally shot in a scuffle with a Champaign police officer following a report of a break-in at a residence. Champaign County State's Attorney Julia Reitz says Manning-Carter has missed some days at the Ready Alternative School, but he's recently been placed in a County program called Parenting with Love and Limits that works to improve lines of communication with adults. Before Manning-Carter's apperance in court Wednesday, activists with the group Champaign-Urbana Citizens for Peace and Justice held a press conference outside Reitz' office. They submitted a petition with 1,700 signatures, demanding that the charges against the teen be dropped.

The group's Carol Ammons says the charge of resisting a peace officer against Manning-Carter has essentially silenced him. "And to date this community doesn't have a true sense of what happened on that day," says Ammons. "We only have the testimony of one side, and are lacking a lot of of testimony that could shed more light on this case, and Jeshaun is critical to that." Champaign Officer Daniel Norbits was not charged in the October fatal shooting of Carrington following an investigation of a multi-agency task force led by Illinois State Police.

Reitz says she won't consider the petition, saying she's simply following the law, but suggests groups like C-U Citizens for Peace and Justice exert their energies in other ways. "They could be down at the Ready School encouraging them to go to class, or offering them tutoring opportunties or mentoring them," says Reitz. "But instead what they do, is they spend their time door to door in the dorms and collecting signatures. That's not helping any." Manning-Carter will be back in court April 13th. Reitz says he's her hope the 16-year old will stick with school in the coming weeks, and stay out of trouble.