11-year-old convicted of Noah Bush’s death banned from Wayne County Schools, under court supervision.
A judge handed down the terms of release for the 11-year-old convicted of Noah Bush’s death at a restitution hearing Thursday at the Wayne County Court House.
The 11-year-old will have to pay restitution to the family by working when he’s able. He will also be banned from attending Wayne County Public Schools and will be under court supervision until 21.
He was released from the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), after serving less than a year in the center.
“This is very emotional. I was truthfully losing all faith in humanity, but the judge today, he gave me some of that back,” Demetrice Fuller, Noah’s mother, said.
Fuller lost her son in May of 2024 when he was found dead in a burrow pit.
At first, the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office ruled his death an accidental drowning.
However, Fuller and others in the community insisted there was more to the story.
In August, a 10-year-old and 11-year-old were charged in connection to Noah’s death.
“This system failed Noah Bush. I think we all have to acknowledge that when an 8-year-old’s life is taken by a 10 and 11-year-old, that there is a failure of society,” Mawuli Davis, an attorney for the Bush family, said.
The 10-year-old pled guilty to concealing a death. The 11-year-old pled guilty to manslaughter for pushing Noah into the burrow pit and holding his head under water.
They were both sentenced to 2 years of confinement but released more than a year early.
“The fact that he won’t be in public school with other kids means more to me than any kind of money. There’s no amount of money that could ever replace my son’s life,” Fuller said.
The Bush family attorneys said they will now turn their attention to making sure the burrow pit where Noah drowned is no longer a hazard in the community and holding accountable any adults who may have been involved in the circumstances surrounding Noah’s death.
The hearing was closed since there are minors involved
