Odgren’s prison tapes disallowed

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 Asperger’s patients by using an insanity defense.

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

Comments

17 responses to “Odgren’s prison tapes disallowed”

  1. Jenny Avatar
    Jenny

    I pray they get the taoes in and prove this kids deserves prison for the rest of his horrible life. Too bad death penalty can’t be applied. I am sick of children killing children, and society approving of it! :'(

  2. Endersdragon Avatar
    Endersdragon

    Society never approves of it. We send over 100 times more kids to jail for life then the rest of the world combined. You just think society approves of it or forgives it because using kids as examples never works. The news doesn’t care enough to broadcast their punishments and kids don’t hear about their punishments anyway.

    Personally I am sick of aspies being tramatised before the age of 18 on a regular basis, but society does approve of that. To quote Metallica, “Through constant pain disgrace the young boy learns their rules”. I am not sure what happened to him, but I bet its something along those lines. Sadly the truth will never come out in this case, both sides are assuring that.

  3. Endersdragon Avatar
    Endersdragon

    For an example of this read: http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/may/23/st-lucie-teacher-has-class-vote-whether-5-year-old/?printer=1/ . I never had anything this bad happen to me, but plenty of incidences where teachers publicly humilated me. Its amazing we are able to keep our sanity at all.

  4. Trench Reynolds Avatar

    There’s no evidence that anything even remotely like that ever happened to Odgren.

  5. Endersdragon Avatar
    Endersdragon

    Doubtful that exact thing happened to Odgren, likely he was humalited in front of classmates by teachers many times. It happens to most of us at some point or another, thats just one extreme. My second grade teacher, and many of my middle school teachers, seemed to make a game of it. Heck, even administators got involved at times.

  6. Trench Reynolds Avatar

    Sounds like you’re projecting. As far as you know Odgren could have led a charmed life. It sure as hell seems like his parents let him do whatever.

  7. Endersdragon Avatar
    Endersdragon

    Projecting… perhaps… but its rare an aspie lives a charmed life. I met many aspies at camp, only one I would say lived a charmed life, and he still had a quite a bit of strife in his life and its just now that things seem to be coming together for him. A few cried themselves to sleep more then once…

    If you want something other then just my opinion I could suggest any # of resources. Freak, Geeks, and Asperger’s is a classic book my Luke Jackson (who was a teen himself at the time of writting it, and many other Asperger’s books talk about this practice. I wish I could think of the name of this movie but it was all about how teachers make fun of learning disabled students by deminstrating it on adults. Never covered asperger’s but it did cover many other disorders. Will have to ask one of my professors what its called. But in short, I am not the only one who has experienced this problem.

  8. Jenny Avatar
    Jenny

    As one of little Johnny’s former educator’s, I will tell you, he was at no time picked on, unless he was conciously doing something to provoke it. i.e. pretending to be asleep in class and snoring loudly, telling other kids that a tiger bit off a large portion of his leg. I mean come on, in middle school, if you say these things you are going to be ridiculed, and there is nothing anybody can do to stop it. The teacher in FL was out of line, b/c the child was 5. All five year olds pick their noses, pee in their pants etc. I am running out of patience now every time I hear the word Aspergers. Wanting to used it as a defense. If you ask me, John’s mother, father, and himself all deserve the death penalty. If one of my children did that, I could honestly say I would stand by him/her, but force them to pay the consequences. John murdered anothyer student with pre-meditation, and his parents gave him the knife to do it with and it turns out are coaching him on how to play “crazy”. Give me some etectrodes, leave me in a room with the little bastard, and then he’ll KNOW carzy. And by the way Odgren did lead a charmed life. They paid for him to go to McCleans behavioral school, check into the price on that… -)

  9. Endersdragon Avatar
    Endersdragon

    Sorry, but what you are saying is requiring me to ignore the experience of every aspie I have ever met (would number in the several dozen now, more if you count the autobiographies I have read). However, I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you didn’t know about him being rediculed and you didn’t perpetrate it yourself, though some of your collegues probably did.

    As for living a great life, yeah money does help a bit. However, the camp I worked at last summer cost $800 a week per kid. This mom with twins sends her kids to the two week session every year $3200 for that in case you can’t do the math. Yet one of the two twins still cried himself to sleep every night. Some charmed life.

    P.S. I doubt any teacher would have all that writting in one paragraph. Can I assume your not an English teacher?

  10. Trench Reynolds Avatar

    Can I assume your not an English teacher?

    Just felt like pointing out the irony.

    It’s like rain on your wedding day.

  11. Jenny Avatar
    Jenny

    Thanks Trench you saved me the trouble of pointing out his silly comment. I am not writing for English class here, so get over the paragraph things and the typos too! 😛

  12. Endersdragon Avatar
    Endersdragon

    Ummm “educator’s” (wrong usage), “wanting to USED it as a defense” (extremely poor grammar), “pre-meditation” (works fine I think but generally is not spelled that way), and “etectrodes” (electrodes maybe?). I don’t spell that bad and I am dyslexic.

    Then you totally ignore my first two paragraphs. One of which says that having money doesn’t automatically mean you live a charmed life. One of which disproves that he would have lived a charm life if history is anything to go by. Seriously now, you have to respond to that at least a little bit. And “paragraph things”, you sound a lot younger then teaching age sweetie.

  13. Jen Avatar
    Jen

    If you think quoting Metalica is getting you anywhere, you have another thing coming. John should be executed.

  14. Jen Avatar
    Jen

    I assume that your picking on other people’s mis-typings, when they are all fired up, are your way of getting out your little man frustrations. When I say little man, I do mean your penis. I am sure that being an aspie pie and having all your social problems, on top of not being laid, causes you to lash out at people the way you do. Hence the reason no one liked you in school and you were picked on. You were just a jerk. Plain and simple, to bad John didn’t stab you honey. -)

    1. herstory1776 Avatar

      1. Your background disclosure as a teacher is not credible because your formation of thoughts is immature. 2. Your sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, proofreading and spelling leave a lot to be desired. 3. Personally, I disagree with every observation that you are posting. You have free will to lack sympathy for a mentally ill boy with manageable disorders (no matter what the income bracket), and I have the free will to express that we all deserve second chances. 4. Using emoticons is disrespectful to both boys’ families–even the victim’s parents would be disgusted with you. It’s the lowest form of mindless expression. 5. Are you a taxpayer [insert sarcasm]? You’re seriously stating that 3 people (including his innocent parents) should receive the death penalty (in MA). What about their other son? (Is he supposed to apply for welfare after grieving?) It’s spouting nonsense and your own narrow-minded, illogical reasoning. For the sake of argument, three executions are going to cost MA more money when conversely the proper school systems could have stepped forward and prevented the entire crime. 6. You can’t be informed about the renown McLean’s Hospital because you misspelled it and therefore, the cost and program is inconsequential to you. 6. Here’s my recommendation and final thoughts: This is America. In some states, we don’t execute first offense teenagers and rehabilitation should be the first and last sentencing. I suggest you move to Europe and rant there about Asperger’s. Perhaps, as an ex-American, your venting will receive a wider audience, or not.

  15. dreamer Avatar
    dreamer

    Wether it is a child lashing out or a grown politician…Every action happens for a reason and stems from somewhere.. God is our guide our faith our hope in life and we have a choice regardless what we have been through and are all equally taught wrong and right…The world is chaos because we as a whole made it this way with all the hate and negative energy we have brought here..Us as a whole is the key to changing chaos, if not we will all have a ugly death…Thats life…the game of life…. ❗

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