Pine Middle prosecutor upset over sentence

Prosecutor calls house arrest in Reno school shooting ‘crazy’:

Washoe County (Nev.) District Attorney Richard Gammick had some things to say about the light sentence Pine Middle School shooter James Scott Newman received…

Gammick said the sentence undermines efforts to keep guns out of schools.

“It sends an absolutely terrible message,” he told The Associated Press.

“Factually, this is a simple case. A kid takes a gun to school and shoots somebody he doesn’t even know and injures another kid and he gets put on house arrest? Give me a break,” he said.

“House arrest was not even on my radar scope,” Gammick said.

Gammick said his office has received a number of calls from parents concerned that Newman will end up at an area high schools next year.

“We have been preaching anti-guns and no weapons in school in all facets of law enforcement and in the school districts, and then we get a slap on the wrist for what happened here. This is crazy,” he said.

Of course, the criminal defense attorney sees it a different way…

David Houston, Newman’s lawyer, said Gammick was ignoring the facts.

Newman “was incarcerated for 2 1/2 months, so to suggest that he was being released with no consequences is absurd,” Houston said.

“We’re talking about a boy who never had so much as a sleep-over away from his house,” he said.

Houston said Newman made significant progress in counseling in past weeks, receiving therapy at least two times a week with a psychologist his parents hired.

“The state’s own experts said he moved from being a high risk to a low risk during that period of time,” he said.

This case has been a travesty of justice from the beginning. First, Newman was tried as a juvenile. Secondly, the parents are facing no charges because the gun was allegedly secured. And lastly, house arrest and community service for shooting two people is a joke.

Mr. Gammick is absolutely right. This is crazy.