egarrard
08-12-2005, 03:38 PM
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-08-11-school-shooter_x.htm?POE=NEWISVA
http://images.usatoday.com/news/_photos/2005/08/11/jonesboro-ins.jpg
Mitchell Johnson was a 13-year-old boy in 1998 when he and an 11-year-old friend ambushed and murdered four children and a teacher in Jonesboro, Ark. On Thursday he was to be a free man.
Though federal officials would not confirm the release, a local prosecutor said he would have been told if it had not happened.
Both Johnson and accomplice Andrew Golden were convicted in the murders. But the state could only hold them until their 18th birthdays. Federal gun charges have kept them in prison until they turn 21. Johnson did that Thursday. Golden will be in jail until 2007.
Arkansas and many other states have gotten tougher with underage criminals in recent years, rewriting laws so they can be charged as adults and given longer sentences.
But laws in effect at the time of the Jonesboro shootings required the boys be treated as juveniles, said Craighead County, Ark., Deputy Prosecutor Mike Walden. "I knew the day I stood in that schoolyard (where the shootings happened) and heard the ages of these boys that this is what we'd come to," Walden said Thursday.
Arkansas law has since been amended so prosecutors can ask that adult sentences be added to some juveniles' prison terms after they turn 18. The law could not be applied retroactively to Johnson and Golden, Walden said.
In the boys' hometown, some wonder if justice has been done.
"How could anyone think (Johnson or Golden) would be rehabilitated?" Dale Haas, the former sheriff, said to the Associated Press.
The Jonesboro killings happened March 24, 1998. The boys stole hunting rifles from Golden's grandfather. They arrived late to Westside Middle School. Johnson hid outside in some woods; Golden went in the school and pulled a fire alarm, then joined Johnson.
As students and teachers fled the building, the boys opened fire. Teacher Shannon Wright was killed as she tried to shield students.
Golden has never publicly explained his actions. Johnson said in court in 1998 that he was sorry and that "I thought we would just shoot over everyone's head." His mother has told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that he will not live in Arkansas, but she has not said where he plans to settle.
Earlier this year, Villanova University law professor Richard Redding wrote that from 1995 to 2003, the number of states that automatically transfer "serious juvenile offenders" to criminal courts rose from 21 to 31. Also by 2003, 46 states allowed juvenile court judges to waive jurisdiction so some underage offenders can be tried as adults in criminal courts, the Justice Department says.They should have left one of the murders unprosecuted until now. Now, they could put him away for life.
http://images.usatoday.com/news/_photos/2005/08/11/jonesboro-ins.jpg
Mitchell Johnson was a 13-year-old boy in 1998 when he and an 11-year-old friend ambushed and murdered four children and a teacher in Jonesboro, Ark. On Thursday he was to be a free man.
Though federal officials would not confirm the release, a local prosecutor said he would have been told if it had not happened.
Both Johnson and accomplice Andrew Golden were convicted in the murders. But the state could only hold them until their 18th birthdays. Federal gun charges have kept them in prison until they turn 21. Johnson did that Thursday. Golden will be in jail until 2007.
Arkansas and many other states have gotten tougher with underage criminals in recent years, rewriting laws so they can be charged as adults and given longer sentences.
But laws in effect at the time of the Jonesboro shootings required the boys be treated as juveniles, said Craighead County, Ark., Deputy Prosecutor Mike Walden. "I knew the day I stood in that schoolyard (where the shootings happened) and heard the ages of these boys that this is what we'd come to," Walden said Thursday.
Arkansas law has since been amended so prosecutors can ask that adult sentences be added to some juveniles' prison terms after they turn 18. The law could not be applied retroactively to Johnson and Golden, Walden said.
In the boys' hometown, some wonder if justice has been done.
"How could anyone think (Johnson or Golden) would be rehabilitated?" Dale Haas, the former sheriff, said to the Associated Press.
The Jonesboro killings happened March 24, 1998. The boys stole hunting rifles from Golden's grandfather. They arrived late to Westside Middle School. Johnson hid outside in some woods; Golden went in the school and pulled a fire alarm, then joined Johnson.
As students and teachers fled the building, the boys opened fire. Teacher Shannon Wright was killed as she tried to shield students.
Golden has never publicly explained his actions. Johnson said in court in 1998 that he was sorry and that "I thought we would just shoot over everyone's head." His mother has told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that he will not live in Arkansas, but she has not said where he plans to settle.
Earlier this year, Villanova University law professor Richard Redding wrote that from 1995 to 2003, the number of states that automatically transfer "serious juvenile offenders" to criminal courts rose from 21 to 31. Also by 2003, 46 states allowed juvenile court judges to waive jurisdiction so some underage offenders can be tried as adults in criminal courts, the Justice Department says.They should have left one of the murders unprosecuted until now. Now, they could put him away for life.