Suspended Gang Suspect Won’t Get Rehearing

CHICAGO (CN) - A boy who was thrown out of school after a cafeteria gang confrontation is not entitled to a second hearing with "due-process safeguards," the 7th Circuit ruled.

The Gangster Disciples and Latin Kings taunted each other and flashed gang signs during lunch hour at Bolingbrook High School. A security guard said 15-year-old Roger Coronado Jr. was with the Latin Kings.

Coronado admitted to standing up at the table in support of the Latin Kings group, and he was suspended from school for two semesters.

Coronado then took the case to district court, alleging that his due-process rights were denied because he was unable to question the security guards, and the school did not provide a Spanish interpreter for his parents.

The appellate court ruled that a second hearing would not result in a different outcome.

Coronado did not try to question the security guards at the first hearing, and his father asked questions at the hearing in English.

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