Tulsa County’s top prosecutor said juvenile charges are not warranted in connection with a fight at Owasso High School involving a 16-year-old who died of suicide the following day.
Sophomore Nex Benedict, who identified as nonbinary and preferred masculine or gender-neutral pronouns, said the incident in the school restroom Feb. 7 involved girls the 16-year-old identified as bullies.
“From all of the evidence gathered, this fight was an instance of mutual combat,” District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler said in a statement released late Thursday. “I do not have a reasonable belief that the State of Oklahoma could sustain its burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt if charges were presented for prosecution.”
Benedict’s death became a rallying cry for LGBTQ+ advocates over a week later when a blogger’s story went viral, leading many to believe that the Owasso student was fatally beaten.
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Kunzweiler, who said his office received a full autopsy report with toxicology information, noted that trauma was found but did not contribute to Benedict’s death. A summary report of Benedict’s autopsy cites suicide as the cause of death, with a combination of two prescription drugs found in the 16-year-old’s system.
In his statement about the case, Kunzweiler cites the discovery of suicide-related notes written by Benedict that reportedly were found during the Owasso Police Department’s investigation.
“Although the notes do not make any reference to the earlier fight or difficulties at school, the parents indicated that Benedict reported being picked upon for various reasons while at school,” he said.
In a videoed interview shared by Owasso police, Benedict told a school resource officer that verbal antagonism with a group of girls escalated to physical aggression after Benedict poured water on them in the restroom. The officer told Benedict and their parent that throwing the water constituted assault, so pursuing charges for the fight “may not go the direction you want it to go.”
The district attorney said he is “in agreement with (the Owasso police) assessment that the filing of juvenile charges is not warranted.”
Kunzweiler said the civil court system remains an option, where “the burden of proof is significantly less” for wrongful death cases.
The Owasso Police Department directed further questions to the district attorney, adding that the case is closed from the agency’s perspective.
Kunzweiler said Owasso police did a “thorough and comprehensive” investigation and sent their report to the District Attorney’s Office “for review only, and not … requesting charges to be filed.”
The district attorney alluded to the country’s growing suicide crisis, calling Benedict’s death “a tragedy” leaving many questions that “may never be answered to the satisfaction of the people affected.”
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