TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Judge again rules against use of jailhouse conversations in Odgren case:
On Friday a judge ruled once again that the taped jailhouse conversations of John Odgren. Previously prosecutors asked for all the tapes but this time they narrowed their request to 10 to 15 hours of tape.

Prosecutors want the tapes to show that Odgren doesn't really have Aspergers which is the key to his defense.

Use of taped conversations barred in student's trial:
The judge presiding over the proceedings of accused killer John Odgren has ruled that recorded conversations between Odgren and his parents are inadmissible.

If you'll remember a then 16-year-old Odgren stabbed 15-year-old James Alenson to death in a random attack at Lincoln-Sudbury High School in Massachusetts.

Prosecutors wanted to use the tape to prove that Odgren is sane. Odgren's attorney is using an insanity defense because Odgren has Aspergers.

Again I say being genetically socially inept does not make you insane and Odgren's lawyer is doing a great disservice to Aspergers patients by using an insanity defense.

Prosecutors will appeal and are confident that the tapes will be allowed in the trial.

Odgren attorney: Throw out first-degree murder indictment:
Criminal defense attorneys never fail to amuse me. Take for instance the attorney to John Odgren, Jonathan Shapiro. Mr. Shapiro wants the first-degree murder indictment against his client because the prosecution did not instruct the grand jury properly as to Odgren's mental and psychological conditions.

For those of you just joining us a then 16-year-old Odgren is accused of stabbing 15-year-old James Alenson to death in a bathroom at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School. Alenson was allegedly chosen at random by Odgren. Odgren has been diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome which some think that Odgren was not responsible for his own actions. To which I say bullshit.

Aspergers does not cause someone to become randomly violent and to claim such will only make people with Aspergers outcast and reviled probably more than they already are. Asapergers did not make John Odgren plan this murder months in advance. Asperegers did not put the knife into John Odgren's hand.

So in my unprofessional opinion I think the prosecution absolutely did the right thing by not disclosing his alleged mental deficiencies to the grand jury. To do so would be almost criminal.

Related Links:
Court dates await teen murder suspect
Should teens accused of murder be tried as adults?
Walter Smith Jr.
Torey Adamcik
Love 146

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Lawyer requests dismissal in Odgren murder case:
The attorney for John Odgren wants the murder charge against his client dismissed. Odgren was a student at Licoln-Sudbury Regional High School in Massachusetts and is accused of stabbing and killing James Alenson, another LSRHS student.

Jonathan Shapiro, who represents John Odgren, said prosecutor Daniel Bennett erred when he told the grand jury not to consider Odgren’s special needs status and other mental health diagnoses prior to Odgren being indicted for James Alenson’s murder on Jan. 19.

Special needs? Odgren allegedly has Aspergers not Down's Syndrome. Being genetically socially inept is not a special need that should be considered in a murder trial.

Trial date set in Sudbury high school slaying:
You have got to be kidding me.

A trial date has been set for John Odgren. Odgren is the teen accused of stabbing his classmate James Alenson to death at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School in Massachusetts. The thing is the trial date is almost a year away...

Middlesex Superior Court Judge Isaac Borenstein yesterday set a Sept. 15, 2008, trial date for John Odgren, 16. Odgren is charged with the Jan. 19 murder of classmate James Alenson, 15, inside the high school.

Not that I give a damn about Odgren but why so long for a trial? Whatever happened to the speedy part? I want to see this kid get put away as soon as possible.

Odgren is also one of the kids that the Helen Lovejoy's are rallying around not only because he was charged as an adult but he also has Asperger's.

Lawyer: Odgren not getting care he needs:
The lawyer for John Odgren is complaining that his client isn't receiving enough psychiatric treatment at the juvenile facility where Odgren is currently housed.

John Odgren, 16, is not receiving care promised at a March hearing by the Department of Mental Health and the Department of Youth Services, lawyer Jonathan Shapiro said during a status hearing in Middlesex Superior Court.

"We do have some concerns about the services that were promised at the last hearing," the lawyer said. "Most of those services have not been provided."

Judge Isaac Borenstein offered to call lawyers from those two agencies to the court to resolve the medical issues, and Shapiro said he would speak to the lawyers to see if he could clear things up.

Is it me or does Mr. Shapiro seem a little shady? It seems like he's hiding something from the way he told Judge Borenstein that he didn't have to call the agencies. He also had another request for Judge Borenstein…

Also yesterday, Shapiro said he wants to have one of Odgren’s parents sit in during attorney/client meetings, but the Plymouth County sheriff’s office has, so far, not allowed it. Odgren is being housed at a youth detention facility in Plymouth.

"Our mental health professionals feel it would be more effective, more productive to be able to meet with John with a parent present," Shapiro said.

Prosecutor Daniel Bennett said in such an instance a parent could be called on to testify about what they heard in the meeting.

After the hearing, Shapiro said he was not sure if Bennett is right.

"We don’t agree with that, and we’ll take it up if it arises," he said.

Borenstein said he would contact the sheriff’s office to tell them to let a parent sit in.

So far I think Judge Borenstein is doing a great job. However, I don't agree with his decision this time. I think allowing a parent to sit in could "coaching", if you know what I mean, whether it is intentional or not. In the long run I don't think it will affect the outcome of the trial though.

Prosecutor outlines L-S murder suspect John Odgren's history of violence:
I'm linking this article because it has an interesting PDF file. It's entitled "The Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. John Odgren". I found it compelling and hard to put down. Let me give you the highlights for those of you who aren't PDF enabled.

• Odgren had January 19th, the day of the murder, marked on his calendar.


• He was accepted by other students and there was no evidence of bullying.


• He took particular joy in the blood splatter experiments in his forensic class.


• Odgren threatened a student with a screwdriver.


• He chased another student with a sharpened object which according to the article was a shard of glass.


• The knife used to murder James Alenson was a 13 inch kitchen carving knife.


• When Police Crime Scene Services arrived he excitedly offered to help them.


• He made jokes with police and investigators.


• He said that he didn't even know the kid's name (Alenson).

If I didn't know any better, and I do, I'd swear this was a premeditated murder on a random victim.

I don't care if Odgren was in a wheelchair stricken with polio after his puppy died. He's obviously in need of a lengthy stay behind bars. And as in lengthy I mean forever.

Lincoln-Sudbury student pleads not guilty in slaying:
John Odgren pleaded not guilty today in the stabbing death of James Alenson. So let me get this straight. He stabs James Alenson to death, basically confesses to the crime to police at the scene, then pleads not guilty. Just once I want someone to plead guilty. Why has he plead not guilty? I sense someone laying the grounds for an insanity defense...

Odgren, a 16-year-old sophomore from Princeton, looked puzzled during the proceeding as his attorney, Jonathan Shapiro, asked the judge to transfer his client from jail to Westborough State Hospital so he could receive medication and psychiatric treatment. Odgren's condition has deteriorated, Shapiro said, and he has been on suicide watch for the last four or five days.

Judge Isaac Borenstein ordered that Odgren be sent to Westborough State for observation for 20 days.

Call me a cold hearted bastard if you want but I'm not buying it. I think Odgren and his lawyer are trying to use his Asperger's to their advantage. I would lay odds that during the trial they're going to make it seem like that all Asperger's patients are all just time bombs ready to go off and kill someone at any given moment.

Let's not forget what Odgren did either...

Middlesex Assistant District Attorney Daniel Bennett said that Odgren slashed Alenson's throat before plunging a 5.5-inch knife through his ribs and then into his though the stomach. A third student was in a bathroom stall and heard Alenson say, "What are you doing, you are hurting me," Bennett said.

That doesn't sound like someone who "just snapped" to me. That sounds more like a stone cold killer.

Report: Stabbing suspect took knife to school without punishment:
It seems that accused killer John Odgren had previously brought a knife to school without any kind of punishment. Apparently he brought the knife to school and supposedly presented it to a school psychologist at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School last September. He asked the psychologist what would happen if he brought something to school that he shouldn't have then showed the psychologist the knife. He says he brought the knife to school by accident. How do you bring a knife to school by accident? Anyway, what makes matters worse is that the psychologist confiscated the knife and then gave it back to Odgren at the end of the day. The psychologist only told his supervisor but did not tell the principal or police. It's also unknown if the psychologist was employed by the school district or some other agency. Considering that Odgren ended up stabbing James Alenson to death I'd say there was an error in judgment on the part of the psychologist to put it politely. To put it impolitely the psychologist is an idiot and should have his license to practice taken away.

Personally I think Odgren was testing the waters so to speak to see what he could get away with. If the knife was taken away for good that would have been no big deal since Odgren had an extensive knife collection. It just would have been one out of many. I think this shows that Odgren may have been planning the murder for a while. Remember, Odgren was always talking about how he would get away with a murder. I don't think James Alenson was his intended target from the beginning. Personally I don't think Odgren had a specific target in mind at all. I think James Alenson was just in the wrong place at the wrong time when Odgren decided fulfill his murderous fantasies.

School stabbing suspect faces life:
John Odgren is facing life behind bars without parole after a Middlesex grand jury handed down an indictment of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of James Alenson at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School. The D.A.'s office described the murder as a "planned, unprovoked knife attack on an unsuspecting victim".

Odgren's attorney, Jonathan Shapiro had the following to say…

"Massachusetts' criminal justice system is in the Middle Ages when it comes to the treatment of children," Shapiro said.

So I guess stabbing someone multiple times to death is considered modern and civil according to Mr. Shapiro.

Student with Asperger Syndrome Charged in Murder:
This is a piece from NPR about how much a part Asperger's Syndrome is playing in the murder of James Alenson by Asperger's patient John Odgren. What I found interesting about this piece is that some parents of Asperger's kids are horrified that Odgren's defense attorney is using Asperger's as a defense. It's a very good listen.

ToF to Dr. Feste for the link.

Principal: No Evidence Slain Teen Knew Attacker:
The principal of Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, John M. Ritchie, addressed a group of parents at the school auditorium Thursday night. He stated that there was no pre-existing relationship between accused killer John Odgren and his victim James Alenson. So all of those claiming bullying as Odgren's motive can stick that in your crack pipes.

Now it says the stabbing started as an altercation. How do we know that John Odgren didn't start that altercation? If he's going to claim that Asperger's caused him to kill James Alenson the prosecution can also claim that it caused him to kill James Alenson unprovoked.

An insanity plea can work both ways.

Scientologists in Sudbury to protest accused murderer's medications:
Just when you thought the case of the Lincoln-Sudbury stabbing could get anymore strange the anti-psychiatry Scientologists have to stick their Thetan free noses into it. They were in Sudbury today demanding that John Odgren's medical drug history be made public.

Nine members of the Citizen's Commission on Human Rights, which was created by the Church of Scientology in 1969, gathered in the center of town to hold a banner which read "Psychiatry's toxic drugs cause suicides and acts of violence."

Several members also held smaller signs, which mentioned John Odgren, the teen accused in the stabbing by name. Odgren has Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism, and according to his attorney was taking several prescription medications at the time of the stabbing.

This is just as bad as the Rev. Fred Phelps. the God hates fags guy, protesting at a soldier's funeral. Using a tragedy like this to promote your own obviously faulty agenda is beyond tasteless and classless. Tom Cruise's kooky cult doesn't give a damn about John Odgren and probably even less about James Alenson. The only reason they're there is so they can use this tragedy as a platform to spew their dangerous anti-psychiatry agenda.

Slain teenager recalled as good student who avoided trouble:

Easy-going with a shy smile, James Alenson was a good student with a dry sense of humor who got along well with peers, recalled former classmates and his former speech team coach at Wilson Middle School in Natick.

"I cannot imagine him getting into a confrontation with anybody," said Deanie Goodman, who coached the boy for two years on Wilson Middle's speech team. "He was a really sweet kid, somewhat shy, a little bit quiet, and really easy-going. I could not believe this would happen to a kid like that."

Alenson was not a master orator and had joined the speech team at his parents' urging. But he was a good sport about going to weekly practices after school and cheered his younger sister, a team member and a great speaker, Goodman said.

Former classmates said that Alenson, tall and lanky with sandy blond hair and blue eyes, kept to himself and never caused trouble. But he would not allow classmates to pick on him, often retorting back when teased, students said. They do not recall him getting into physical fights.

"When people would make fun of him, he wouldn't let it go," said Cassie Kosky, 15, a freshman at Natick High School who had gone to school with Alenson before he moved. "He wouldn't flip out, but would come up with a remark."

Former Natick classmates said Alenson was typically an A student at the middle school. Antone Wilson, 15 and a Natick High freshman, said that whenever he would ask Alenson for the answers to a test, Alenson would say no.

Wilson emphasized that while quiet, Alenson was no pushover.

"He wouldn't let people bully him around," Wilson said.

Jeff Scannell, 15, has known Alenson since the boys were about 9 years old and they attended the same speech therapy class. In eighth grade last year, they were in the same math and English honors classes. Alenson liked to spend his time reading and writing and rarely interrupted class, Scannell said.

"He was a nice kid to be around," said Scannell, a Natick High freshman. "He wouldn't say one bad thing about another student. He was easy to talk to."

Lynn Rome, whose son attended the eighth grade with Alenson, said her son and his friend described Alenson as an "extremely bright, studious, and very friendly boy."

Samantha Abrams, 18, a senior from Sudbury said she was a "peer connector" for freshmen, including Alenson. "He was really quiet and shy," Abrams said. "He was just an innocent little kid and he didn't deserve anything like this."

Parents honor "sweet" James: ‘We will carry him in our hearts forever ’:

The parents of slain “sweet, funny, kind” student James Alenson broke their silence yesterday saying that they are devastated by the loss of their 15-year-old boy, who was stabbed to death at his suburban school.

“He was always embarrassed by the adjectives we had to use to describe him; sweet, funny, kind, considerate, gentle. An innocent. Always the first to offer help, incapable of telling a lie, he was a genuinely good person in a world that under appreciates how much joy that brings to the people around them,” the statement said.

Alenson worked part time for a community organic farm in Natick and spent his summers at a camp in New Hampshire, where he was hoping to become a counselor, according to the family.

Alenson’s family, including his two siblings, moved from Natick to Sudbury last year so Alenson could be in a safer and better school, family members have said. Lincoln-Sudbury classmates said he hadn’t made many close friends yet, but he was universally described as a sweet and quiet straight-A student.

Those of you who are trying to make James Alenson out to be some kind of aggressor or tormentor in this case should be absolutely ashamed of yourselves. There is absolutely nothing to indicate that James Alenson was not a good kid. One of the things about this website is that if I defend or berate someone on this site I usually hear from their friends or family within a few days telling me how wrong I am. I have yet to hear from anyone that knew James Alenson to tell me otherwise.

On the other hand…

State report describes teen's early aggression:

In seventh grade, John Odgren had several explosive episodes, was verbally abusive, and at times became physically aggressive, his parents, specialists, and teachers said, according to a state hearing report.

His parents had argued to the state agency that their son needed better services than he had received from the Wachusett Regional School District, which had placed him in an alternative school in Fitchburg. At that school, he was so miserable he came home and "often spent evenings wrapped in a blanket, crying," one of his parents testified.

The state agreed that the placement was not appropriate and ordered Wachusett to pay for Odgren's attendance at a smaller program in Belmont that his parents had found.

The report, giving an overall description, said that Odgren became aggressive at times when confused or ordered to do work, but did not offer details other than to say he was suspended three times for physical aggression within a two-month period at Caldwell Alternative School in Fitchburg. His parents, at the same time, were expressing concern for his physical and emotional safety at Caldwell, whose principal declined to comment.

The report made one mention of him having "explosive episodes" in fall 2002 in Wachusett's special education program, but did not detail those. Wachusett school officials declined to comment about Odgren, citing student confidentiality.

Odgren, according to the state report, was diagnosed with depression and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in 2000 and later placed in a special education program at a Wachusett elementary school. In 2002, in the sixth grade, he was diagnosed with Asperger's. His parents complained that he needed training in social skills, according to the state report, but never received it.

Shortly after beginning seventh grade in a Wachusett school, his performance deteriorated, according to the report, and the school system placed him at Caldwell Alternative School in Fitchburg for students in grades 7 to 12. The school serves students with emotional and behavioral problems and learning disabilities.

But he floundered at Caldwell, where the other students "teased, used foul and aggressive language, and were rude and disrespectful to each other and to the teacher," according to the report. Odgren's behavior grew more troubling, resulting in the suspensions and his failing three subjects.

In March 2003, his parents took him out of Caldwell and placed him at Pathways Academy in a special education program at McLean Hospital in Belmont for students ages 12 and 13. There, his behavior dramatically improved, the report stated.

Odgren told his parents the program was "like heaven." His father testified that after about six weeks at Pathways, Odgren "demonstrated spontaneous empathy for the first time."

It is unknown whether Odgren went directly from Pathways to Lincoln-Sudbury and whether school officials were made aware of the state report that described a history of physical aggression. Beginning this school year, he was a sophomore at Lincoln-Sudbury enrolled in Great Opportunities, a program for students with significant emotional and/or psychiatric disabilities. Lincoln-Sudbury officials have said they had no knowledge of any violent behavior involving Odgren.

According to the state's report, Odgren needed to be in an educational environment where he would not be threatened and would "be free from peers who tease, bully, or have behaviorally based disorders."

In the days after the stabbing, Lincoln-Sudbury students told reporters that Odgren had been teased by schoolmates for wearing a trench coat in the halls like the killers in Columbine High School. Police have not said why Odgren allegedly stabbed Alenson, who was described as shy and sweet, in a boy's bathroom.

Odgren's mother , Dorothy, a nurse at a Worcester clinic, is a fierce advocate for her son, said Kathryn Mattison, a Princeton child and family therapist. Dorothy Odgren is a fixture at area conferences on Asperger's, she said, adding that she met Dorothy Odgren when she was a school nurse at Princeton's Thomas Prince Elementary School, which Mattison's children attended.

He was known to have "explosive episodes" yet his parents allowed him to have an extensive knife collection? What the hell were they thinking? And why should it be the state's responsibility to make sure that he gets training in social skills? If they were so worried about him being in a school where the students teased, used foul and aggressive language, and were rude and disrespectful to each other and to the teacher then they could have home schooled him because a far as I'm concerned that sounds like every school in the world. If your child has a learning disability it is the parents' responsibility to make sure he gets help. Not the state's and not the schools' but the parents'. And for those of you who either have or know someone with Asperger's and are saying "oh poor John Odgren", stop using your disability as a crutch. Stop acting like a damn victim. So God dealt you a bad hand. Suck it up. There are a lot of people worse off than you and there are a lot more people who don't constantly whine about having Asperger's. John Odgren is a danger to society pure and simple and needs to be put away for a long time. Don't like what I have to say? No one is making you stay here.

As always it was your pleasure.