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Some say student is too dangerous for schools

By EVA-MARIE AYALA

STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

ARLINGTON -- Allen Christopher Roman says he's a cross-country athlete working hard to maintain As and Bs to go to college. But some are concerned that his guilty plea to attempted capital murder makes him too dangerous to attend Sam Houston High School.

It was arranged last week for the 18-year-old senior to do his schoolwork from home, his attorney said.

"I don't know why they've got to take my education from me," Roman said. "I just want my diploma. I don't want to be a dropout and get a GED."

In February, Roman and a friend robbed a convenience store in the 1700 block of East Abram Street and one of them shot a 50-year-old store clerk, Assistant District Attorney Ashley Johnson said. Johnson said evidence suggests that Roman did not do the shooting.

Roman pleaded guilty to an attempted capital murder charge Nov. 11 and is awaiting sentencing by a jury in a trial scheduled to start Jan. 23. He could face five to 99 years and a fine of up to $10,000 for the first-degree felony, but is eligible for probation.

His friend, Eric Salas, 18, went to trial this month and is serving a seven-year sentence on an aggravated robbery charge.

Roman is free on $85,000 bail and returned to Sam Houston in August after spending most of the spring semester at an alternative school.

But recently, a parent e-mailed school district officials concerned about Roman attending school. After contacting the Star-Telegram last week, the parent could not be reached to comment as of Tuesday.

Superintendent Mac Bernd said he wanted to expel Roman, but state law prevented him from doing so.

According to the Texas Education Code, students can be expelled only if their crime is on school property or at a school-sponsored or school-related activity.

"The district and the administrators think anyone convicted of a violent crime should be expelled from school, but our hands are tied by the law," district spokeswoman Veronica Sopher said. "We want the law changed."

Sopher said Bernd is beginning to talk to elected officials about the law.

But Roman's attorney, Kathy Lowthorp, said changing the law would hurt those who have the best chance of turning their lives around. Students forced off-campus to finish school in a correctional facility would only turn to more crime, she said.

"It doesn't make any sense to point a kid toward crime," she said.

Staying in school "is the best way to arm a kid against crime with an education."
Lowthorp said Roman has gone through drug rehabilitation, taken a part-time job and dedicated himself to going to college.

"The kid has been perfect this year," she said.

"There's a lot of kids that mess up and then straighten out. ... He's not a threat to anyone."

Sam Houston Principal Beverley McReynolds declined to comment on specifics of the case but said that Roman had no conflicts while on campus and that the school was not hurt by his enrollment.