No criminal charges will be filed in the case of the 6-year-old elementary student who got paddled by her principal ... investigators concluded the principal didn't commit a crime, because the child's mother consented to corporal punishment.
According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ ... state prosecutors found Central Elementary School Principal Melissa Carter and her clerk, Cecilia Self, carried out the discipline of the student at the request of the girl's mother.
Deputy Chief Assistant State Attorney Abraham R. Thornburg explains "the evidence in this case appears clear that the child's mother sanctioned and consented to the spanking of her daughter as discipline for misbehavior."
Thornburg also says there were "significant concerns" about the mother's credibility regarding her statements that she was confused or didn't understand the process ... adding even if she was confused, there was "no reason to believe" the principal was aware of any such confusion at the time of the paddling.
He continues ... "A parent has the right to use corporal punishment to discipline their children, and similarly has the right to consent that others do so on their behalf."
Brent Probinsky, attorney for the family of the student, tells TMZ ... "The state attorney reached the wrong conclusion here. It's frightening the state attorney, who is in charge of prosecuting crimes in this community, is not filing charges in what clearly is child abuse."