TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Author: Trench Reynolds

  • Kerns admits to list

    Teen admits writing supply list for assault:

    Yesterday Tobin Kerns admitted through his attorney, William McElligott, that he wrote out the list that contained the items one would possibly need to carry out a school assault…

    The list was the final – and potentially most crucial – piece of evidence in a case prosecutors built largely upon teenage witnesses recollecting conversations they had two and sometimes three years ago with the defendant.

    Police retrieved the list from Kerns’ home on Main Street in Marshfield after his arrest in September 2004. They found it in a bedroom that had been occupied by Joseph Nee, 20, Kerns’ former friend and the alleged mastermind of the plot. Nee lived temporarily with the Kerns the previous spring.

    The list found in the Kerns home includes automatic guns, gas masks, a computer-hacking system, acid, bullet-proof vests, propane tanks, galvanized steel and an assortment of ammunition.

    First of all, where would two teens be able to get all those items without raising suspicion? Secondly, if that’s only thing Tobin did I would be shocked if he even sniffed the inside of a cell. Thirdly Tobin was arrested on the word of someone who was also arrested on the exact same charges, Joe Nee…

    Throughout the trial, McElligott has focused on Nee, portraying him as a manipulative, vengeful young man who tried to blame Kerns for the plot out of fear that Kerns no longer wanted to carry it out and was about to tell police.

    As far as I’m concerned the charges against Tobin Kerns should have been dropped once Joe Nee was arrested.

  • More on Kerns trial

    Kerns trial begins:

    This is a much more detailed article that yesterday’s about the trial of Tobin Kerns. I’ll just recap the highlights.

    Daniel Farley and Joseph Sullivan both testified that Joe Nee destroyed evidence about the plot and tried deflecting guilt on to Toby Kerns. Like I’ve been theorizing Farley stated that Nee was worried that Tobin Kerns would report Nee. Farley said that Kerns never talked about Columbine unless Nee was present.

    Marshfield High School 2006 graduate Tim Courchene testified that Nee, Kerns, Farley, and Sullivan tried to recruit him as a shooter but he declined. Courchene also testified that after Kerns received psychological help at a mental health facility that Tobin no longer wanted any part of the plot.

    Assistant District Attorney John McLaughlin in his opening argument that Sullivan and Farley’s testimony would prove that Kerns and Nee conspired to recruit others in their plan. The only thing that I’ve seen the testimony prove so far is that Tobin Kerns got help and tried to get out the plot.

  • Kerns trial finally gets underway

    Students Testify In Marshfield School Plot Trial:

    The trial of Tobin Kerns is finally underway. Read the article and watch the video. Does the media make Toby out to be a monster or am I just imagining things? However, from the brief media report about today’s proceedings, it looks like things are going the right way. Except for the police, it looks like the prosecution’s witnesses all point the finger at Joe Nee. On Wednesday the defense will present. For the sake of Toby and his family I pray to God he’s found not guilty.

  • Petition for no plea in Campbell County shooting

    Petitioners ask prosecutor for no plea deal:

    There were rumors swirling in Tennessee that Campbell County High shooter Kenny Bartley was going to receive a plea bargain from prosecutors. Bartley is accused of bringing a gun to school and shooting and killing Assistant Principal Ken Bruce and shooting and injuring Principal Gary Seale and Assistant Principal Jim Pierce. Apparently, the rumors of a plea bargain gained so much ground that a petition drive was started asking the state not to enter into any plea bargains with Bartley. According to attorneys on both sides, no plea agreement has been reached.

  • Robin Kittrell out on bond

    Student who brought guns to school out on bail:

    Robin Kittrell is the 17-year-old who brought an arsenal of weapons to the first day of school at Whitewater High School in Georgia. He claimed that the weapons were for preventing a Columbine-type attack.

    Well, he got out of jail this past weekend on a $150K bond.

    After his arrest Aug. 7 at Whitewater High School, Kittrell told authorities he was trying to defend himself in case a “Columbine kind of thing” took place at school. Police found at least six weapons, including a carbine rifle, a switchblade and a sword, in his car.

    Authorities said they found no evidence he was planning an attack on the school.

    School officials said Kittrell was a good student with no history of disciplinary problems. He will finish his senior year by homeschooling.

    Requests for bond had been denied because District Attorney Scott Ballard said he was concerned about Kittrell’s mental health. Defense attorney Lee Sexton said the teenager has received “much-needed” counseling while in jail.

    WHS student now out on house arrest in gun case:

    And according to this article Kittrell is under house arrest and may only leave the house for medical or psychological treatment. He has also been barred from school grounds.

  • Castillo took advantage of loophole in NC gun law

    N.C. law protecting mental health records allowed gun buys:

    This is an interesting article that states since Alvaro Castillo voluntarily admitted himself to a mental hospital that he was still allowed to purchase firearms…

    HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. – A teen jailed on charges he fatally shot his father before opening fire at his former high school was able to buy two guns even though he was nearly involuntarily committed to a mental hospital just months earlier because of his suicide threats.

    Instead, Alvaro Castillo agreed after the involuntary commitment process had started to admit himself to the hospital. That allowed him to retain his right to buy a gun.

    For nearly 40 years, federal law has made it illegal to knowingly sell guns to a person who has been involuntarily committed to a mental institution or otherwise been found by a judge to be mentally ill.

    The difference between those who get involuntary and voluntary treatment often is small, but it can have potentially huge consequences, said Mark Botts, a law professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Government.

    North Carolina law encourages authorities to persuade a person to consent to treatment even when the person is considered dangerous and eligible for involuntary treatment.

    But when consent is given, the state no longer has control over the duration of the person’s treatment because willing patients are allowed to voluntarily discharge themselves, Botts said.

    In case you forgot Alvaro Castillo shot and killed his father before opening fire on his former high school.

  • Roberts family releases statement

    Statement from the Roberts’ family released:

    The family of Charles Roberts, the Amish school gunman that killed 5 girls, has released the following statement to the public…

    From the Roberts family:

    To our Amish friends, neighbors, and local community:

    Our family wants each of you to know that we are overwhelmed by the forgiveness, grace, and mercy that you’ve extended to us. Your love for our family has helped to provide the healing we so desperately need. The prayers, flowers, cards, and gifts you’ve given have touched our hearts in a way no words can describe. Your compassion has reached beyond our family, beyond our community, and is changing our world, and for this we sincerely thank you.

    Please know that our hearts have been broken by all that has happened. We are filled with sorrow for all of our Amish neighbors whom we have loved and continue to love. We know that there are many hard days ahead for all the families who lost loved ones, and so we will continue to put our hope and trust in God of all comfort, as we all seek to rebuild our lives.

  • Missouri middle school shooter’s father faces charges

    Federal charge against father of boy in middle school shooting:

    It seems that father of Memorial Middle School shooter Thomas White is in a little bit of trouble over the whole incident. Is it because he basically allowed his son to take a rifle to school? That would make sense but no. It turns out that Gregory Lynn White, 44, was charged with being a felon in possession of a gun. Mr. White has two felony convictions of burglary in Florida and drug possession in California. The elder White is looking at a year in prison.

  • Last Winslow Twp. suspect sentenced

    No break for boy, 15, in Winslow plot:

    The last of the four Winslow Township High plotters has been sentenced…

    He said he did it because he was bullied. He said that he did it because his new friends offered him protection, and that he never meant to massacre teachers and students.

    He said he did it because he was scared and now knows better.

    But in the end, a judge yesterday sentenced a 15-year-old Winslow Township youth to three years in a state juvenile facility, saying that he wasn’t convinced the teen had been rehabilitated and that he still needs intense psychological treatment.

    Standing before State Superior Court Judge Angelo DiCamillo, the slight youth stood in a gray suit and striped tie and said he didn’t have the stomach for murder.

    “I would have never done it, I’ll tell you that,” said the teen, whose name is being withheld because of his age.

    But if you check in the archives you can find his name as it was released by another media outlet.

    DiCamillo asked the boy how he had come to be a part of the plot. His friend Edwin DeLeon approached him “and asked me if I wanted to do it, and was I interested. I agreed and said yes,” the teen said.

    The boy maintained that he agreed only to be accepted. “I kind of really wanted to be with that crowd. They were the cool kids to me at that time. I wasn’t fitting in. If I said yes, they’d accept me.”

    Addressing the court, the youth’s father said the boy had been a target of bullying since fifth grade and had suffered a broken collarbone and eye orbit at the hands of other children. He had been picked on for years, but his new friends offered him something he had never had before: the chance to fit in, the chance to be safe.

    When his son began hanging around the two older boys – DeLeon, 15, and Peter Cunningham, 16 – they had already concocted the plot, the father said. “Suddenly, nobody bothered him,” he said. “I understood why he said yes.”

    I don’t. In the 12 years that I was bullied and picked on I never once thought of resorting to murder. If one of my kids had I still wouldn’t understand it.

    The boy said he wished he could start over again. “I’m very remorseful of what I’ve done. I wish I could take it all back. I was very immature, I had immature thoughts and feelings.”

    The judge agreed, and said that there were lingering effects in the community. “People are afraid to go to school,” he said. “People have refused to go back to school.”

    DiCamillo said that the New Jersey State Training School for Boys in Jamesburg would be the best place for the teen, and that although his sentence was longer than those of DeLeon and Cunningham, who will both be eligible for parole in about a year, he would consider lightening the boy’s term in six months.

    In these situations, I always have to ask is he remorseful for what he was planning or is he remorseful because he got caught? Hindsight is 20/20 but this kid committed a crime and now has to pay for his actions.

  • Joplin shooter identified

    Joplin student charged:

    The 13-year-old Memorial Middle School student who fired a rifle inside his school is Thomas White. He has been charged with first-degree assault, armed criminal action and making a terrorist threat.

    Police are saying that White did not have a fascination with Columbine or any other school shooting.

    How White obtained the gun…

    Police said Tuesday that the gun safe from which the boy obtained the assault rifle was located in his parents’ bedroom. Police seized the safe when they searched the home less than two hours after the shooting.

    “When we got there, the safe was locked,” Jones said. “The key, according to the mother, was kept in an ashtray somewhere in the house. When we got there, that ashtray was on the floor in front of the safe.”

    He said the ashtray contained about 30 keys, and police tried a number of them until they found one that opened the safe.

    It kind of defeats the purpose of a safe if the key is left out in the open.

    Still no word on a motive.

    And to make matters worse White has been charged with attempted escape after he tried to run away from staff as he was being led out of a cafeteria at the Jasper County Juvenile Detention Center.

    You’re not helping your case any son.