If you remember when this happened, his parents were in interviews trying to turn it into a “This is how the libs come for your guns!” situation. The kid was also reported to have said he hoped “Biden gets impeached due to my shooting”. He was 15 at the time of the shooting.
This is a prime example of people being radicalized by the rhetoric from right-wingers. The parents first, then they brainwashed this kid into thinking he’d somehow be a hero for doing this. Sad all around.
Kid was basically crying out, saying he had violent thoughts. Dumb parents thought the better idea was to get him a gun and let him shoot at targets “to vent his anger.”
Meanwhile they continue neglecting him, leaving him home alone all the time so the deadbeats can go to the bar and drink all day and night.
Meanwhile the kid is bullied relentlessly at school. I don’t condone what he did but it’s a miserable existence. Unfortunately whether it’s based on personal experiences or genetics the harsh reality is some people turn to either suicide or homicide when there is no other hope left and their world stability had completely shattered for years and no end in sight.
Wait, life? For a 15 year old?
He’s not 15 anymore and in his time in custody he has not really shown any remorse. Until the last minute when he begged for the harshest punishment .The kid was broken by his parents, the parents need life sentences too.
I feel like there’s a contradiction between right to a speedy trial, and the judicial system going so slowly that you’re now convicted as an adult despite when the crime occurred being years prior.
He’s not sentenced to life based on his current age. He’s still not an adult anyway. Most (all?) states allow minors above a certain age to be tried and sentenced as adults in extreme circumstances, and 15 isn’t considered too young here.
I think the lack of parole option is horrible in this case, but then again US prisons don’t really focus on rehabilitation either so I’m not sure he’d have much chance anyway. Still horribly sad all around.
Not sure what you’re saying in the first paragraph. In one respect you say he wasn’t tried as an adult when he was if I read correctly, and yet if he was tried as an adult, it seems you’re saying it wouldn’t or shouldn’t matter.
I tend to disagree that 15 is old enough. 15 is flatly a child. The brain is physiologically far from full development. That we whimsically throw aside our own laws on trying children or adults based on how vengeful we’re feeling on a given day astounds me.
I’m not the only one: https://www.sentencingproject.org/policy-brief/juvenile-life-without-parole-an-overview/
The United States stands alone as the only nation that sentences people to life without parole for crimes committed before turning 18. This briefing paper reviews the Supreme Court precedents that limit the use of juvenile life without parole (JLWOP) and the challenges that remain to its abolition.
Wait, life? For a 15 year old?
Life sentence for killing 4 people.
Disgust for the crime is one thing, but that’s beside the point.
