Appeal denied to girl who shoved hall monitor.

Byline: Howard Witt

HOUSTON _ A Texas appellate court on Thursday let stand the conviction of Shaquanda Cotton, the black teenager from the small east Texas town of Paris whose sentence of up to seven years in youth prison for pushing a hall monitor at her high school provoked national criticism and fueled allegations of racial discrimination in the town's schools and courts.

The Sixth Appellate District Court in Texarkana denied the 16-year-old's appeal of her March, 2006, conviction for assault on a public servant and turned aside her claim that she received…