No. of Recommendations: 5
Matching orange jump suits. (Yes, poetic license, dad was in faded black and white stripes, kid was in olive drab. Not a great choice for an inmate if you ask me -- not easy to spot if they escape. Stripes are a classic choice, of course. They never go out of style.)
Our GA shooter and his father were in court today for arraignment. Kid's got 4 Murder-1 charges, which in GA would carry the death penalty. As a minor, he's not subject to that -- the max for him is life without parole. Dad has two Murder-2, four Manslaughter, and 8 cruelty to children. Apparently powers of 2 were the order of the day in the DA's office.
The accusation is that dad gave his mentally disturbed kid an AR-style rifle for Christmas last year. Just what every kid who has anger issues and is the victim of bullying needs. Apparently some kind of southern bar mitzvah, I guess. When your son turns 13 he gets a big ol' gun at the next Christmas. Not a sissy single shot .22 to learn gun safety and how to shoot. Throw 'em in the deep end with a man's gun, 'cause he's a man today. [manly growl!]
Looks like mom is not going to be part of this for two good reasons. She and dad separated some time ago, with dad taking custody of the son and mom with custody of two younger children. Also, she's got a rap sheet a couple of feet long, so I'm sure she never did anything to make home life difficult. (eyeroll emoji. more than one.)
Now, if it were up to me, I'd back off of trying the kid as an adult. Try him as a minor. Get him away from both of his parents and get him the help he desperately needs. (Consider the same for the other kids, too, before they get AR-15s for Christmas.) Not sure why dad has only two Murder-2 charges. Should be 4 of them as far as I'm concerned. Probably can't charge him with Murder-1 as he didn't pull the trigger. And why only 8 cruelty to children? One count for every student in the school, or at least every student in the room(s) where the shooting happened, whether physically injured or not. Whatever he's convicted of, let him serve the sentences consecutively, not concurrently.
--Peter <== not feeling very generous today
