Opening day of Hainstock trial

Opening Statements in Principal Shooting:

Today was the opening day in the trial of Eric Hainstock. He’s accused in the shooting death of Weston Schools principal John Klang.

The defense is trying the argument that Hainstock only meant to scare John Klang.

Hainstock’s attorney, Rhoda Ricciardi, told jurors they should not convict him of first-degree murder because his actions were not intentional, but reckless. She said he told police he only meant to scare people.

She said Hainstock was upset with kids calling him a “fag.” Ricciardi said his stepbrother sexually abused him when Hainstock was 6, and that his father abused him and refused to give him medication for attention deficit disorder.

This is the first I’ve heard of claims of sexual abuse but again Hainstock did not strike back at the people who allegedly abused him. He shot and killed someone who was actually trying to help him.

The prosecution remains unfazed…

District Attorney Pat Barrett maintained that Hainstock’s anger toward Klang had been building for two weeks before homecoming.

She noted Klang kicked Hainstock out of school for three days after Hainstock threw a stapler at his special education teacher. Klang also gave Hainstock an in-school suspension after Klang found chewing tobacco in the boy’s backpack.

Pointing her finger at jurors like a pistol, Barrett also pledged they would hear statements Hainstock gave to investigators in which he said he pulled the trigger on Klang on purpose and testimony from a school janitor who heard Hainstock say he was at the school to kill someone.

Barrett also said Hainstock brought 50 cartridges for the revolver to school.

Do 50 rounds of ammunition sound like he was just trying to scare someone? Let’s not forget that Hainstock also brought a shotgun to the school as well even though the shotgun was taken away by a school custodian. Fear was not Hainstock’s objective. Death was.

Librarian: Hainstock seemed “proud” of violent incident weeks before shooting:
Librarian Kay Amborn testified today that Eric Hainstock took pride in his throwing a metal stapler at special needs teacher James Nowak.

Librarian Kay Amborn testified Friday that Hainstock, 16, seemed “proud” a week later on Sept. 21 when he saw a story about the incident published in the Reedsburg Independent, showed it to several other students and asked Amborn to make a copy of it for him. She declined.

“He said he wanted a copy for his dad, because his dad didn’t get the newspaper,” Amborn testified.

The stapler incident is what led to Hainstock being suspended by Klang which is what prosecutors believe that led to Hainstock shooting Klang. I tend to agree.