In school killings, journalists have duty to report, must fight danger to sensationalize:
This is a great article by American University journalism student Max Ringsgwandl. And I’m not just saying that because he interviewed me for the article.
Max’s article explores the roles and actions of mainstream media when it comes to school shootings. It should be a must-read for all “professional” journalists.
Campbell County High School shooting case goes back to juvenile court:
The attorney for Kenneth Bartley, the teenage gunman from Campbell County High in Tennessee who killed assistant principal Ken Bruce and wounded principal Gary Seale and assistant principal Jim Pierce, wants to have the trial moved back to juvenile court…
In March Bartley agreed to be tried in adult court, but now he wants a hearing on the matter. So the case will at least temporarily go back to juvenile court. Thursday the judge set April tenth as a tentative trial date if the case comes back to adult court.
“If they want to have a hearing in juvenile court, we don’t want to deny them any right, but we’re confident that we’ll have the trial in April here in criminal court,” said District Attorney General Paul Phillips.
Hopefully, it will stay in adult court where it belongs. Murder is not a juvenile crime.
Student pleads to weapons violations:
Will wonders never cease? Robin Kittrell, the Georgia teen who brought guns to school allegedly to prevent a Columbine-like attack, has actually pleaded guilty to six counts of possession of a weapon on school property, one count of carrying a concealed weapon and two counts of underage possession of a firearm. Not only that, but no deal was struck along with the plea.
This is the kind of the kid who deserves help. Not the kid who shoots up his school or kills his family. It’s obvious to me that this kid had good intentions but incredibly bad judgment. It’s not too late for him.
Hainstock’s Lawyer Fights School Records Seizure:
Eric Hainstock’s attorney, Debra O’Rourke, is trying to get school records subpoenaed by the prosecution excluded. She claims that the records are confidential, and the subpoena does not show how they are relevant to the murder of Weston Schools principal John Klang.
District Attorney Pat Barrett is arguing that the records are relevant, stating that Hainstock had issues with numerous students over the past three years and that he was going to “see” them the day he killed Klang.
O’Rourke also said that the school did not fulfill her request for the records, even though she had permission from the family.
Judge Patrick Taggart will rule on the matter in two weeks.
Crown wants Taber school shooter sent to adult jail:
Todd Cameron Smith, the gunman in the Taber school shooting in Alberta, Canada, is back in the news today as the Ontario Crown is trying to get Smith sent to an adult jail…
Paula Teeter, a worker with the Ministry of Child and Youth Services, testified Thursday in a Peterborough court that the man is the oldest “young offender” in the province and is still at a high risk to reoffend.
The man had finished serving his original sentence of three years in November 2003, but a judge had ruled he was still dangerous and should be held indefinitely.
Thanks to Jessie for the link.
Judge recuses himself in school shooting case:
This is a strange development. The judge who was overseeing the case of Kenneth Bartley, the Campbell County, Tennessee ten who shot and Campbell County High Assistant Principal Ken Bruce and wounded Principal Gary Seale and Assistant Principal Jim Pierce, has bowed out of the case. Criminal Court Judge Shayne Sexton did not give a reason why. Retired Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood will take over.
MASSACRE PLOT: Issue in Kerns case going to full top court
The Massachusetts supreme court justice that was expected to hand down a decision regarding the interpretation of the law regarding communicating a threat in the trial of Tobin Kerns has refused to rule in the matter. Prosecutors are planning to argue the matter before the full Supreme Judicial Court. So again, God only knows when Tobin will know whether he’ll be exonerated or not.
This is a rather lengthy article, so bear with me, but it clarifies the final day of testimony in the trial of Tobin Kerns among other topics.
First, I previously posted that Tobin used what I call the “joke defense”. Someone who was at the trial told me that was taken out of context by the previous article. This quote is more accurate…
In his testimony, Kerns said he was just egging Nee on for entertainment purposes while sleep-deprived when he wrote down a list of items dictated to him by Nee for use in planning the Columbine-style attack, and that he never planned to do anything with it. He said he was just doodling when he drew a swastika, a DOS (Disciples of Satan) symbol and a magnifying class at the top of the page.
“I forgot all about that list until I was arrested,” he said.
While I’m not thrilled that Tobin doodled those things on the list, he has received help since then and prior to his arrest. Also, I think we all had that friend who talked a big game who we’d let rant and then roll our eyes as soon as he left the room. In Tobin’s case, that friend was Joe Nee.
And here is the clarification on the definition of communicating a threat Judge Coffin is looking for…
At issue is the definition of “communicating a threat.” Coffin said the question is whether the intended victim has to be threatened directly or whether a threat may be communicated by other means to the intended victim.
District Attorney Tim Cruz said Kerns was indicted on a charge of threatened use of deadly weapons at a school under a pre-Columbine state statute that defines what it means to communicate a threat, but the new, broader state statute on such a threat should apply in this case.
Massachusetts General Law refers to “whoever willfully communicates or causes to be communicated, either directly or indirectly, orally, in writing, by mail, by use of a telephone or telecommunication device including, but not limited to, electronic mail, Internet communications and facsimile communications, through an electronic communication device or by any other means” a threat.
Cruz filed the order because he is concerned that Coffin will use a more narrow definition to dismiss the charges or find Kerns not guilty, neither of which could be appealed.
The emergency order could be heard as soon as today (Oct. 25) by a single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court. The justice could decide that the full court needs to decide the issue, which would cause further delay. Coffin said he would wait to announce his decision on both charges until the threat charge has been “worked out.”
So we could be in for even more delays. Not to mention the fact that in all the articles I’ve read since this whole thing started, I have yet to read any instance of where Tobin uttered an actual threat. Granted, I only really see what is in the media, though.
And more testimony of Joe Nee’s chicanery…
McLaughlin also pressed Kerns on the contents of a Trapper Keeper that police found in the Kerns home. Kerns testified that he had loaned it to Nee, but McLaughlin questioned why Kerns had possession of it and why it was filled with his own writings, not Nee’s, along with a map of the high school with the names of intended shooters, targets and people to be spared that was submitted as evidence. Neither Kerns’ name nor his initials are on the map.
Kerns said he had forgotten all about the Trapper Keeper and hadn’t realized that Nee had left it behind in the room where Nee had stayed in the Kerns’ home in May 2004. Nee had to leave the home when Kerns was admitted by his father, Ben, into a mental health facility.
McElligott said Nee knew that the Trapper Keeper and its contents, including the supply list in Kerns’ handwriting, were in the Kerns home, and specifically told police to look for it. He said Nee had already ripped up the papers that implicated himself, as Farley had testified. He said Kerns, however, didn’t have a guilty conscience, and didn’t feel any need to look for it and then throw it away.
Hopefully, we won’t have to wait too long for an answer from the Supreme Judicial Court and then a verdict. Tobin has had this hanging over his head for two years now.
Every once in a while, I get the opportunity to talk to a reporter. Whenever I tell them that there are “fans” or sympathizers of school shooters, they sometimes find it hard to believe. Well, wonder no more, you journalistic types.
Here is an e-mail I received from someone calling themselves Gill. I’m assuming it’s in reference to Kimveer Gill, the Dawson College shooter from Montreal. This is one of the more mild e-mails I’ve received…
Why do you start a website called trenchcoat if you’re not sympathetic to why these kids do school shootings? You call Gill’s pain “adolescent.” I guess it’s okay to do it if you’re George Bush, huh? Nobody calls a military funeral “juvenile,” to belittle it, do they? Fuck arguing with you, I just don’t know why you bother with it at all.
This is a popular tactic with the mutants, comparing school shootings to the war in Iraq. That’s like comparing the proverbial apples and oranges. Hell, that’s more like comparing apples with chickens.
Now, I’m not here to debate the merits or the lack thereof of the war in Iraq, however, typically in a war zone, two separate factions are armed and shooting at each other.
At Dawson College, Gill was nothing more than a coward shooting at unarmed people. And usually in a war, the goal is some greater good. In Gill’s case, the goal was only death.
I not only call his “pain” adolescent and juvenile, I also call it selfish. What about the pain of the family of Anastasia DeSousa? You know, the promising young girl that Kimveer Gill killed. What about their pain?
I think their pain is a lot more important than some gun-wielding psychopath. Kimveer Gill was a 25-year-old living with his mommy. He was a loser in life and an even bigger loser in death.
Amish schoolhouse gunman was drug-free:
Lancaster County Coroner Gary Kirchner has announced that no drugs were found in the system of Charles Carl Roberts IV, the Amish school shooter. This just makes his actions even more puzzling.