U.S. Youth Escapes Caning in Singapore

The government dropped vandalism charges Tuesday against a second U.S. teen-ager accused of spray-painting cars, sparing him the kind of flogging meted out to an Ohio youth two weeks ago.

Instead, 17-year-old Stephen P. Freehill of Chicago pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of possessing stolen property and was fined $520 by District Court Judge Khoo Oon Soo.

Freehill was among five teen-agers who were charged with going on a spree of mischief over two weekends last autumn, spray-painting cars, throwing eggs and switching license plates. In the end, Freehill admitted only to having stolen signs in his bedroom.

Michael Fay, 18, of Dayton, Ohio, pleaded guilty to two counts of vandalism in March and was sentenced to six strokes of a rattan cane, as well as four months in prison and a $2,230 fine. He received the flogging May 5, but the government reduced the number of strokes to four as a goodwill gesture to President Clinton.

Fay’s mother, Randy Chan, visited her son in prison Tuesday for the first time since the caning. She later told reporters that Michael was “OK” and “counting the days until his release.”

She said she was unable to see the scars left by the caning but added, “I think there will be a lot more to be said” when her son leaves prison. With time off for good behavior, he could be released as early as June 21.

The Fay case became an international cause celebre, debated on television talk shows and in newspaper Op-Ed pages. Some argued that the United States needs to adopt similarly Draconian measures to deter crime, while others suggested caning is akin to torture.

A spokesman for the Singapore police said in a statement Tuesday night that the charges were reduced against Freehill because statements by the other youths involved “have cast doubts on their reliability as prosecution witnesses.”

While the government evidently hopes the media scrutiny will now fade, the dispute refuses to go away. U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor has indicated that the United States will oppose Singapore as the site for a meeting of the World Trade Organization, successor to the Geneva Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Singapore had campaigned to host the meeting.