Judge rules teen unable to assist in own defense:
On Friday a judge made it official by ruling that Memorial Middle School gunman Thomas White is mentally incompetent to assist in his own defense.
White’s psychiatric report remains private but doctors who had previously examined him believe that he is schizophrenic.
White will now be in the custody of the Missouri Department of Mental Health. The department will report back to the court in six months.
Thomas White’s mother has told the media that her son has been ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial.
White was the kid who fired off a round into the ceiling of Memorial Middle School in Joplin, Missouri. The gun he had was his father’s MAC-90.
Without seeing how that evaluation came about I can’t comment on the legitimacy of the findings. However, I can comment on what Norma White said to the press.
“He just doesn’t speak like a child would talk,” she said. “It’s a little hard to understand (him) sometimes, and also a little bit of rocking back and forth and he has no memory – very little memory of being a child. He’s asked ‘what was I like as a child?’”
I’m not saying she’s full of crap but I think she does have a flair for the overly dramatic. If it is true then why didn’t she get her son help? Why did it have to take her son firing a gun in school for her to finally do something about it?
Mental exam ordered for school-gun teen:
A judge has ordered Thomas White to undergo a mental examination to see if he is competent enough to assist in his own defense.
If you’ll recall White is accused of discharging an assault rifle in Memorial Middle School in Joplin, MO. He is also accused of trying to shoot the principal but the gun jammed.
His defense is now claiming that White has schizophrenia. If it didn’t work for John Jason McLaughlin I seriously doubt it will work for White.
The judge did turn down a request for White to be released into the recognizance of his parents. You know, where his ex-drug dealer dad had the gun just lying around. That was probably a good idea.
Missouri Supreme Court: Thomas White’s case to remain in adult court:
The State Supreme Court of Missouri has ruled that the trial for Thomas White will remain in adult court.
White was 13 when he discharged a round into the ceiling from a MAC-90 assault rifle at Memorial Middle School in Joplin, Missouri.
Police allege that he tried firing the gun at the principal of the school but the gun had jammed.
Judge denies defense motion to release Thomas White on house arrest or reduced bond:
We already knew that Thomas White’s request for house arrest had been denied. Now his request for a reduction in his $250K bond has also been denied.
Judge David Mouton said that due to the seriousness of the crimes in this case, he was overruling the defense requests.
In October 2006 White brought a MAC-90 to school, fired a round into the ceiling and police say he tried pulling the trigger while the gun was pointed at Memorial Middle School’s principal but the gun jammed.
Judge Moulton said he won’t rule on a request to have White tutored while in jail until the State Supreme Court rules on it.
White’s mom seems to blame the court rather than her son for his predicament.
Norma White said she was “hoping” but not “expecting” a favorable ruling for her son but added afterward: “It is par for the course for everything he has ruled on before.”
That’s what usually happens when you allow your son to take an illegally owned firearm to school.
Middle-school shooting suspect claimed he wasn’t targeting anyone:
Ever since Thomas White fired a round from a MAC-90 into the ceiling of Memorial Middle School in Joplin, Missouri, his defenders have declared that it was because he was bullied, and the school wouldn’t do anything about it. Yet in recently released documents, White himself claims it was because he was failing in school and saw no other option.
The 13-year-old boy believed he was failing four out of his six classes at Memorial Middle School. He felt it had got him “into trouble at home,” and he didn’t see anyway to improve his grades.
How about studying and doing your work. Did you ever think of that? Look, I was no Valedictorian, but the only person who was responsible for my bad grades was me.
Anyway, the fact that he claims that his failure would get him into “trouble at home” makes me think that we should be looking once again at the White family and not the school.
As I’ve previously posted, Thomas White’s father is a former drug dealer who was in illegal possession of a firearm. The same firearm that Thomas White used at his school.
Also, White said that he had no target in mind except to scare the teachers.
Thomas White told them “he just wanted to scare people,” according to a statement of facts drawn up by public defender James Egan and submitted as part of a brief filed this past week with the state’s high court. When asked specifically whom he was trying to scare, he’d told them “all the teachers,” according to the brief.
According to police, White tried firing the gun at his principal, but the gun had already jammed. White even admits to trying to fire the gun.
White eventually “admitted,” during a second interrogation, that he’d tried to fire the gun more than once, although the brief claims this “admission” was elicited by his interrogators with the assistance of his own attorney at the time,
His new attorneys say that his previous defense was inadequate. It sounds like to me, he was trying to get him the best deal possible. Now the case is tied up while attorneys argue that White should not be tried as an adult.
White’s request to await trial on house arrest rejected:
Thomas White’s request to await his trial under house arrest has been denied.
As you know, Thomas White was the 13-year-old who brought an assault rifle to Memorial Middle School in Joplin, MO. He fired a round into the ceiling and is accused of pointing the gun at his principal and pulling the trigger, but the gun jammed after the first shot.
His attorneys had requested that he await trial on house arrest to meet his educational needs that could not be met in prison.
White has been charged as an adult, but the State Supreme Court will hold a hearing in late February to determine if White should be sent back to juvenile court.
White’s Lawyers are also trying to get his bond lowered, which is currently at $250K.
If all the people who think White should be tried as a juvenile got together, I’m sure they could scrape up his bond but for some reason, they’re just not doing that.
House arrest sought for teen accused in school-gun incident:
The public defender for Thomas White is seeking to have his client put under house arrest while he awaits trial. White is the 14-year-old gunman who fired a round from an assault rifle into the ceiling of Memorial Middle School in Joplin, Missouri and allegedly tried to shoot his principal but the gun jammed. Let’s hear from White’s attorney, James Egan…
“Under our system, the purpose of bail is to ensure the defendant show up for trial,” Egan wrote in his motion. “Here, (defendant) is a 14-year-old boy with no means of transportation. Further, any inappropriate actions of (defendant) during the period he is on house arrest will certainly be used against him if this court grants the requested relief and there is another certification hearing. Moreover, (defendant) risks having the preliminary writ quashed if he flees the jurisdiction.”
The motion also says the boy is entitled under state law to educational services that “cannot be adequately provided” while he is in jail.
A 14-year-old may not have any means of transportation, but I’m sure his parents do. And as we’ve seen, at least one of his parents isn’t above breaking the law. If you remember, White’s father, Gregory White, was an ex-felon who was in possession of a firearm. Not only that, but we’ve already seen what Thomas White thinks of educational services. He fires bullets into them.
It’s his attorney’s fault that he hasn’t gone to trial yet, anyway. His attorneys filed an appeal with the state Supreme Court back in September, trying to get the case sent back to juvenile court. The state Supreme Court won’t even hear the appeal until February 28, 2008.
Besides, it’s not like he’s been charged with jaywalking. He’s being charged with first-degree assault, among other charges. House arrest would be a joke.
Lawyers take school shooting case to Mo. Supreme Court:
The lawyers for Thomas White are appealing to the Missouri Supreme Court to have White tried as a juvenile.
Public defenders said Monday they have appealed to reverse a lower court’s July decision that Thomas White, 14, should be tried as an adult. He faces four felony counts related to the school shooting last October and a charge of attempted escape from juvenile custody.
White was 13 at the time of the shooting at Memorial Middle School.
Nobody was injured when White allegedly fired a single shot into the ceiling. Prosecutors allege that White repeatedly tried to shoot the school’s principal but that the gun jammed.
The public defenders are just delaying the inevitable. Now, all court proceedings will be postponed until the state supreme court issues a decision or reverts the case back to a lower court. My prediction is that the Missouri Supreme Court will more than likely refuse to hear the case.
If they do hear the case, I’m sure they’ll get a bunch of tear-stained letters from suburban housewives who think no teen is capable of murder. Just on that possibility alone, I wouldn’t hear the case if I was a Justice.
Rally held for Thomas White; continuance allowed:
This is, in my opinion, a very biased but well-written article about the rally that was held for Thomas White yesterday.
Again, white is the teen gunman who fired a MAC-90 round into his school’s ceiling then pointed the gun at his principal while pulling the trigger after the gun jammed.
First off, let me say that people who drag their kids to protests or rallies, no matter what the protest/rally is about, are asshats. It makes you look like you’re exploiting your kids. Not only that, but you never know when a protester is going to clash with police, putting your kids in danger.
But getting back to the matter at hand, Thomas White’s mother Norma was at the rally…
Norma White, pictured, who stood nearby often close to tears, expressed remorse that she didn’t do more to protect her child whom she said came home with a “swollen hand” and other signs of school abuse. Subsequently, she had discovered, she said, that a teacher’s remedy for handling bullies was to “turn and walk away.”
She also was sorry that she was not more outspoken earlier, but that she was following the advice of her son’s former attorney Chuck Lonardo who said to “keep quiet.” “I decided that just wasn’t working,” she said. She hopes that speaking out will get more community support.
A swollen hand? That’s it? So he brought a gun to school over a swollen hand? His generation really does have its fair share of over-sensitive marshmallows. And in my opinion, I don’t think that she decided it was time to talk. I get the feeling that certain advocacy groups whispered in her ear. That’s not an allegation. It’s just a feeling I have. If Norma White wanted to do more, maybe she should have gotten rid of the illegally owned guns in her house.
The hearing to see if Thomas White will be sent back to juvenile court has been delayed two weeks.
While Judge Mouton expressed concern over delaying the case in order, as requested by the defense, to present further testimony from three unnamed witnesses, he granted a two-week continuance in support of Thomas White’s rights. His decision was made against the strong objection of the APA. In setting the criminal motion hearing for Friday, July 20 at 1:30 p.m., Moulton was offering the defense another opportunity to make their case.
The people at the rally shouldn’t delude themselves, though. I’m sure that the rally had nothing to do with the judge’s decision to allow a continuance.