Tag: John Odgren

Lawyer Says Teen Charged In School Killing May Recover Memory:

Now that he’s been ruled competent to stand trial John Odgren’s attorney is saying that Odgren’s memory of the murder of James Alenson may return.

Jonathan Shapiro now tells “The Boston Globe” that the extent and permanence of Odgren’s amnesia is unclear. Last Monday he withdrew a request for a mental competency hearing.

This is after prosecutors planned to hire their own psychologist to do a comprehensive examination that would give them access to all of Odgren’s medical and psychiatric records.

It’s funny how things work out that way.

Principal says ‘extra step’ not taken before stabbing:

Yesterday the principal of Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School and the superintendent said at a school board meeting that the school psychologist who confiscated a knife from John Odgren then gave it back at the end of the day should have reported it to authorities. You don’t say.

John M. Ritchie told the school board in a meeting last night that he didn’t think that there was “flagrant neglect, disregard for the welfare of the school, or irresponsible ignoring of school policy.”

Still, he said, “Some additional effort had to be made that wasn’t made to determine whether this was a pattern, to call it to someone’s attention, to determine whether it was completely innocent.”

“That was where people did not execute reasonable expectation on my part,” Ritchie said. “I think that in a school setting with safety being of paramount concern to us, an extra step had to be taken.”

Ritchie did not single out any school staff, and he declined to say whether disciplinary action would be taken, citing confidentiality.

If that school employee doesn’t lose his or her job then there’s seriously something wrong with that school system.

Doc: Teen stab suspect competent to stand trial:

John Odgren, the 15-year-old suspect in the fatal Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School stabbing of James Alenson, was ruled competent to stand trial yesterday. A psychiatrist informed the court that Odgren is competent and no longer needs to be housed in a psychiatric facility. Odgren swore at the judge when he was told that he was going back to juvenile lockup.

“(Expletive) it,” Odgren said. “(If you) send me back to Plymouth, I’m not coming back.”

Odgren’s attorney, Jonathan Shapiro, argued that Odgren’s Asperger’s puts him at risk in lock up.

Shapiro argued Odgren’s Asperger’s syndrome puts him at risk in jail because he makes ‘inappropriate comments’ to other boys. “Frankly, it’s dangerous,” Shapiro said.

Shapiro also states that Odgren is at risk for suicide and that he has, get this, amnesia of the whole stabbing incident. Isn’t that convenient? So you’re going to tell me that someone who was joking with police and offered to assist the crime scene investigators all of a sudden has amnesia of the entire event. Amnesia, it’s not just for soap operas and cartoons anymore.

Shapiro argued that Odgren should still be kept at the mental facility but the judge put a quick stop to that.

Judge Isaac Borenstein responded and said, “The very same doctor you quote said he does not need to be in the hospital.”

Well since Odgren allegedly has amnesia then he won’t remember where he is.

What a drama queen.

Prosecutor outlines L-S murder suspect John Odgren’s history of violence:

I’m linking this article because it has an interesting PDF file. It’s entitled “The Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. John Odgren”. I found it compelling and hard to put down. Let me give you the highlights for those of you who aren’t PDF enabled.

• Odgren had January 19th, the day of the murder, marked on his calendar.
• He was accepted by other students and there was no evidence of bullying.
• He took particular joy in the blood splatter experiments in his forensic class.
• Odgren threatened a student with a screwdriver.
• He chased another student with a sharpened object which according to the article was a shard of glass.
• The knife used to murder James Alenson was a 13-inch kitchen carving knife.
• When Police Crime Scene Services arrived he excitedly offered to help them.
• He made jokes with police and investigators.
• He said that he didn’t even know the kid’s name (Alenson).

If I didn’t know any better, and I do, I’d swear this was a premeditated murder on a random victim.

I don’t care if Odgren was in a wheelchair stricken with polio after his puppy died. He’s obviously in need of a lengthy stay behind bars. And as in lengthy, I mean forever.

Report: Stabbing suspect took knife to school without punishment:

It seems that accused killer John Odgren had previously brought a knife to school without any kind of punishment. Apparently, he brought the knife to school and supposedly presented it to a school psychologist at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School last September. He asked the psychologist what would happen if he brought something to school that he shouldn’t have then showed the psychologist the knife. He says he brought the knife to school by accident. How do you bring a knife to school by accident? Anyway, what makes matters worse is that the psychologist confiscated the knife and then gave it back to Odgren at the end of the day. The psychologist only told his supervisor but did not tell the principal or police. It’s also unknown if the psychologist was employed by the school district or some other agency. Considering that Odgren ended up stabbing James Alenson to death I’d say there was an error in judgment on the part of the psychologist to put it politely. To put it impolitely the psychologist is an idiot and should have his license to practice taken away.

Personally, I think Odgren was testing the waters so to speak to see what he could get away with. If the knife was taken away for good that would have been no big deal since Odgren had an extensive knife collection. It just would have been one out of many. I think this shows that Odgren may have been planning the murder for a while. Remember, Odgren was always talking about how he would get away with murder. I don’t think James Alenson was his intended target from the beginning. Personally, I don’t think Odgren had a specific target in mind at all. I think James Alenson was just in the wrong place at the wrong time when Odgren decided to fulfill his murderous fantasies.

Judge denies request for access to Odgren search warrants:

Luckily a judge has wisely decided that the search warrants used in the investigation of Lincoln-Sudbury stabbing suspect John Odgren will not be made public.

Judge Paul Healy Jr. said in a ruling that releasing the information to the public would not be fair to the investigation or suspect John Odgren, 16, of Princeton.

“At this time, it is believed that a blanket impoundment order is necessary to protect the rights of both the defendant and the Commonwealth and that there is no reasonable alternative,” Healy wrote in the two page decision.

Thank God this exercise in media self-righteousness was put down quickly.