The 15-year-old Moses Lake boy accused of shooting his parents will likely face adult charges by the end of this week, according to Grant County Prosecutor Angus Lee.
Lee said prosecutors are currently in the process of filing charges against the boy in Grant County Superior Court.
The boy was originally charged with two counts of attempted murder in juvenile court, according to a previous Columbia Basin Herald article. He allegedly took a .22 caliber pistol out of a locked gun case, loaded it and waited around 90 minutes before deciding to shoot his parents in March.
At the time, he reportedly told police his parents grounded him from video games and other electronic devices.
His parents survived the incident.
It seems there are guidelines which judges use to make this determination. Among the factors that argue for trying the youngster as an adult is the seriousness of the offense. On the other hand, keeping him in the juvenile system would depend on the " the sophistication and maturity of the defendant."
It seems absurd to me that the former should weigh more than the latter.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
Typical example of the fact that having a gun in the home assures someone in the family is likely to get hurt, or killed.
ReplyDeleteAssures? Hardly. We can debate the Kellermann study endlessly, but no matter what you think about it, the reality is that shootings are rare as a total percentage of gun ownership.
DeleteBullshit.
DeleteWhy do we read stories about it daily?
That's like your lie, that dropped guns don't go off.
Next lie.
"assures" means it is assured to happen. If that were true, you wouldn't have to worry about gun-rights advocates blocking gun control because we'd all be dead.
DeleteI agree that "assures" is a tiny bit strong, but as I remember all the Kellerman debates, it's always a question of HOW many more times you're likely to shoot a family member rather than a bad guy, it's never WHETHER or not you are. So, that means even you gun maniacs agree. How stupid does that make you for still insisting on keeping da gunz.
DeleteNo, Mikeb, I don't agree that it's inevitable that someone in my home will be harmed with my guns. There are more than 100,000,000 gun owners with more than 300,000,000 guns in this country. If the odds were so very high that we'll harm ourselves, there would be millions of gun deaths and injuries per annum.
DeleteThe stats prove you wrong.
DeleteWhat else is new for the sites lying coward.
Next lie.
Greg, do you see why you're known as the site's liar?
Delete"I don't agree that it's inevitable that someone in my home will be harmed with my guns."
No one said it was inevitable. By using that word, you are mischaracterizing what we've been saying. That's lying.
"Assures someone in the family is likely" claimed a high probability. It's just too bad that you have to have everything spelled out for you.
DeleteTry facts, liar. The facts say guns in the home end up hurting the people living in the home, not some crooks that invaded the home.
DeleteAs usual, no response from the criminal lying coward.
DeleteThe Kellermann study claims what you said, but that's in dispute. It isn't a fact.
DeleteNo liar, there are multiple studies that show those facts. In fact, doctors are starting to ask if there is a gun in the home, because it is an accepted fact, except to lying criminal cowards like you.
DeleteNo response from the ass hole criminal lying coward.
DeleteDid you check? Yes, and found out I was right.
Quite an ass hole lying criminal coward reputation you have earned on this site.
Congratulations
Just like educating what turns out are the dumbest kids in the nation, congratulations on your failure.
Or in this case seven factors where he did qualify to be tried as an adult weighed more than the one.
ReplyDelete"Hotchkiss wrote that his decision was based on the eight Kent factors (criteria outlined in Kent versus United States)."
"Visiting Douglas County Superior Court Judge John Hotchkiss heard testimony from various witnesses, including three experts, during the two-day hearing. He filed his decision, declining juvenile court jurisdiction, late last week."
"Hotchkiss said the only Kent factor that supported retention of juvenile jurisdiction was the factor that addressed the sophistication and maturity of the defendant. He cited two of the expert witnesses, who testified the defendant’s sophistication and maturity were behind those of his age group for the typical juvenile offender population."
Trying juvenile offenders as adults should be extremely extremely rare.
DeleteThe criteria they used seems fair, and it seems that they took it quite seriously. The "kid" got a pistol from a gun safe and then waited so he could attempt to murder his parents in their sleep because he was grounded from his video games.
DeleteThis might qualify for the extremely rare category.
The one criterion that should weigh most, doesn't, "the sophistication and maturity of the defendant." That should outweigh all the others put together. 15-year-olds in state penitentiaries with adult offenders is an abomination.
Delete