Tag: charged as an adult

Judge: Hainstock not coerced:

Sauk County Circuit Judge Patrick Taggart has ruled that Eric Hainstock was not coerced, nor did he have his Miranda rights “rammed down his throat” by police.

“The court finds that the officers were careful to make sure that this juvenile understood his rights, could have his parents notified if he wanted them to be notified and a review of the recording disclosed a juvenile who, although he may have had educational shortcomings in certain areas, demonstrated an ability to recognize his rights and to proceed without an attorney or his parents present,” he wrote.

This trial should be relatively short.

Did alleged Weston shooter know what he was saying?:

Eric Hainstock’s defense is trying to say that he was not made aware of his rights before giving a statement to police. He basically confessed to killing Principal John Klang while in custody.

Lohr said before asking any questions, he read with Hainstock a card advising him of three constitutional rights, including his right to remain silent and his right to an attorney. Hainstock initialed each of the points and said he could not afford an attorney, he said.

Barrett told the court Hainstock began stating his Miranda rights even before the officer went over the card with him.

“I have the right to remain silent,” she quoted him. “Anything I say can be used against me.”

In defense arguments, Ricciardi pointed out that investigators knew Hainstock was a year behind in school and has learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Legal precedents have established that law officers interrogating a juvenile have a responsibility to have the child repeat their understanding of their rights back to the officer, and Lohr failed to do that, she said.

Despite the fact he said he didn’t have the money for an attorney, the investigators did not explain to him how he could have one represent him, Ricciardi said.

Ricciardi said Feagles’ role in giving the Miranda warning was rushing Hainstock through signing it without giving him time to think.

“Now you’ve agreed to talk to us, let’s talk,” she characterized Feagles’ words that morning.

In her final arguments, Barrett said suppression of a defendant’s statement is only appropriate when there is evidence of coercion by police. That did not happen when Hainstock was interviewed by Lohr and Feagles, she said.

“I don’t think the court will find any improper police pressure or tactics,” Barrett said.

But Hainstock was an immature and troubled boy in a situation he was not equipped to handle, Ricciardi said.

“You have two adult detectives in this room with a very young boy,” she said. “This kid has his rights rammed down his throat with no effort to determine if he understood them.”

If he’s watched enough to TV to know how the Miranda rights are read, I’m sure he’s watched enough to know when it’s time to ‘lawyer up’. The defense team is making this kid out to be a drooling helmet wearing window licker riding the short bus.

Hainstock is obviously not as stupid as they’re making him out to be. After all, he was able to obtain two guns and, unfortunately, use one of them correctly.

‘Somebody would kill him’:

Shawn Hainstock, the father of Weston High School gunman Eric Hainstock, is showing concern for his son…

Shawn Hainstock made no secret of his tears Thursday after a Sauk County Circuit Court hearing for his 16-year-old son, Eric, who is charged with killing the principal of Weston School in September.

“I’m concerned (Eric) might say the wrong thing (in an adult prison) and somebody would hurt him,” Shawn Hainstock said, tears in his eyes. “Somebody would kill him, and that would be that.”

In his first public interview since the shooting, Shawn Hainstock said he visits his son in the Sauk County Jail every day or two. “He kind of breaks down and cries a lot,” he said.

Sauk County Circuit Judge Patrick Taggart’s decision last month that the younger Hainstock be tried as an adult was a “tragedy,” Hainstock said. “My heart’s been tore out,” he said. “That just about killed me.”

“Nobody knows him like we do,” Shawn Hainstock said. “They don’t realize how loving a boy he is. He can be saved.”

But he said his son is “getting railroaded.”

The reason this is so interesting is that the defense is alleging that one of the reasons Eric Hainstock killed John Klang was because Eric Hainstock was abused by his father. At one point, Eric Hainstock was even removed from the house by the state but begged to be returned.

This leads me to believe one of two things. Either the alleged abuse wasn’t as bad as the defense is making it out to be, or that Shawn Hainstock is a hypocritical son of a bitch. Whatever one it is remains to be seen.

Hainstock Pleads Not Guilty In Principal Shooting:

Shocking absolutely no one, Eric Hainstock has pleaded not guilty to shooting his principal, John Klang.

I’m anxiously awaiting the defense’s explanation for the not guilty plea. I think they have a false sense of security from the vocal minority who think that Hainstock is the victim in all this.

If he pleaded guilty and took responsibility for his actions, he may have received the help that some think he needs.

Judge: Hainstock To Be Tried As Adult:

Judge Patrick Taggart has ruled that Eric Hainstock, the teen accused of gunning down Weston Schools Principal John Klang, will be tried as an adult.

Judge Patrick Taggart said that Hainstock’s attorneys didn’t prove that moving his murder trial to juvenile court wouldn’t diminish the seriousness of his crime.

Taggart said that evidence showed Hainstock planned to go to Weston Schools with guns and told a janitor that he was there to kill someone.

The judge told the defense lawyers that they only succeeded in meeting one of the three criteria to move the case to juvenile court, WISC-TV reported.

Of course, the defense is not happy.

Hainstock’s attorney Rhoda Ricciardi said that the teen will rot away in prison. She said that therapy he would have received at juvenile facility could have helped him.

What’s your point, lady?

Hainstock is now looking at life behind bars.

Psychologist: Klang May Have Made Things Worse:

A principal hailed as a hero for rushing a student gunman and disarming him despite being fatally wounded may have sealed his own fate by touching the boy, a psychologist testified Thursday.

Eric Hainstock can’t control his emotional reactions to even the smallest slight and can’t think rationally when he’s attacked, juvenile psychologist Michael Caldwell said. The volatile 16-year-old has shown a pattern of growing more agitated when people touch him, Caldwell said.

And people want him to back out on the streets by the time he’s 25? That’s laughable. Hainstock is violent and unstable, and I doubt very much that he’s capable of rehabilitation.

Pal: Teen who shot principal was abused:

The sob stories about Eric Hainstock continue…

Officials did nothing to stop students from teasing Eric Hainstock despite complaints, a friend testified Wednesday at a hearing to determine whether adult charges should stand in the shooting death of the teenagers’ school principal.

Other kids called Hainstock names and pushed and punched him for being messy and smelling bad, said Morgan Gudenschwager, a 15-year-old eighth-grader who described himself as Hainstock’s best friend. Hainstock, who could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted on adult charges, told Gudenschwager his parents wouldn’t let him shower at home.

And here’s some gratitude for you…

But under cross-examination, Gudenschwager said Hainstock talked “once in a while” about how he hated Klang, even though Klang bought him clothes and let him shower at school so he wouldn’t smell. He also said Hainstock often instigated confrontations with other students and dished out his share of bullying.

And what did John Klang get for his charity? A bullet that cost him his life.

Hainstock is an obvious danger and should never see the light of day. Hell, prison would probably be like a vacation for him. At least he’ll get meals and showers.

Grandmother: Accused shooter considerate child:

Here is some courtroom theatrics for you.

In a hearing to see if Weston High School shooter, Eric Hainstock, will be tried as an adult, his grandmother testified on his behalf.

Irene Hainstock was pushed up to the stand in a wheelchair and, with a gray bun and a white crocheted blanket on her lap, gave teary testimony about her relationship with her grandson and his troubled upbringing. Hainstock sat unmoved throughout her testimony.

“He’s always been a loving child” he showed affection very easily and he was very talkative,” she said. “He liked to talk, and grandma listened.”

His very early childhood, spent in Reedsburg with parents Shawn and Lisa Hainstock, was relatively normal, Irene Hainstock said. It was when he was three or four and his father remarried to Pricella Hainstock that things became “not the best,” she said.

The Hainstock home on Bird Drive in La Valle was unkempt with multiple dogs that Pricella was raising in the home, she said.

Once Shawn Hainstock said to his wife, “I think you love the dogs more than you love Eric,” Irene Hainstock testified. “She said, ‘Maybe I do.” Hearing that felt “terrible,” she said. “He’s my grandson.”

In his older childhood years he began to be “terribly nervous and jumpy and flustered,” Irene Hainstock said, and was prescribed Ritalin. In the fall of 2001, when Eric was 10, he went to live with his grandmother for several months.

Even after he returned home, he would bike the three miles to his grandmother’s home and seemed to seek refuge in their relationship, she said.

“Like any teenager, I think he resented Pricella’s authority over him,” she said. “He always came to grandma.”

When he would complain about being bullied at school, the advice she would give him, Irene Hainstock said, was “trying to get along, forgive.”

What does Hainstock’s home life have to do with killing John Klang? After all, he didn’t murder his stepmother.

The prosecution seems to be unfazed.

After Hainstock had testified that her grandson was locked in a locker at school, held by his ankles with his head in a toilet by another student and told by a teacher that he wouldn’t “be (at school) long if I have anything to say about it,” District Attorney Patricia Barrett asked what she had done to intervene.

Irene Hainstock said she thought that was Eric’s parents’ job.

“So it didn’t worry you enough to go past his parents to protect your grandson and tell the school?” Barrett asked. “It seemed to have stuck in your memory, but it didn’t seem to bother you enough to report it.”

“Like I said,” Hainstock said, “I thought his parents would take care of it.”

Barrett said a school report showed Eric had instigated the incident with the toilet, and earlier had threatened other students, brought to school both powdered calcium he said was cocaine and a mixture of Kool-Aid and cough syrup he said was blood.

In the spring of eighth grade, Barrett said, Eric threw a chair in choir class and grabbed his teacher by her arm until it was numb while screaming profanities. Irene Hainstock said she wasn’t aware of any of those incidents.

But he’s the victim? I don’t think so.