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Boy who posed on Web with weapons convicted
Rocky Mountain News ^ | April 5, 2006 | Sue Lindsay

Posted on 04/05/2006 1:27:08 PM PDT by 300magnum

An Evergreen High School student who posted Internet photos of himself posing with guns was convicted Tuesday on a charge of possession of a handgun by a juvenile. The conviction came despite his parents' testimony that they gave him permission to handle guns in their home without their supervision.

Colorado law prohibits possession of a handgun by a juvenile but permits parents to give them permission to possess guns in their homes - even without supervision.

"This is a very difficult case," defense attorney Barrett Weisz said in his closing argument.

"We have pictures that raise images of the Columbine massacre. But if we set the specter of Columbine aside," he said, the boy should be acquitted and sent home.

The photos were posted on the popular teen Web site MySpace.com. The photos showed him posing with a number of rifles and three handguns - a .45-caliber pistol, a .22-caliber revolver and a .357-caliber revolver.

The 16-year-old boy, who has been held in detention since his arrest in February, will be sentenced June 1. He was acquitted on two additional charges of handgun possession.

The judge set a $5,000 bond, but ordered that the boy must be evaluated and a safety plan drawn up before he can be released.

The boy's parents testified they were upset and disappointed with their son when they discovered the photos, but said he had permission to handle the weapons.

"I was not pleased and told him to take (the photos) down," his father testified. "I told him, 'What were you thinking when you took these pictures?' I was upset."

The father, a gun collector and enthusiast who is an airline pilot and retired Air Force pilot, said he gave the boy and his brother extensive training in the safe handling of weapons.

He said he gave his sons permission to handle the guns in the home even when he wasn't there, and the boys had access to keys to trigger locks.

"It was due to their experience and my trust in them" to safely handle the weapons, he said. They often cleaned the guns after they had gone shooting and he was out of town for his job, the father said.

They also built guns from kits, he said.

But Jefferson County District Judge Brian Boatright said that that permission had limits.

"That doesn't mean juveniles could run around the house and do whatever he wanted with the gun," Boatright said, noting that the father testified the boys were not allowed to load or fire the weapons unless he was present.

Boatright acquitted the boy on two charges in which he posed with the handguns but did not have his finger on the trigger. One of the charges stemmed from a photo entitled "angel of death," in which he posed on the floor with guns surrounding his body.

The judge was more concerned with a third photo in which the boy appeared to have his finger on the trigger.

"That exceeds the scope of his training, experience and trust (his father) placed in the juvenile," Boatright said.

Weisz argued the boy has spent far too long in detention already and needs to get on with his life. He has been enrolled in a private school. Weisz said he would appeal the case.

He assured the judge that no weapons will be in the house again. "The hobby is gone. The guns are gone and won't be back," Weisz said.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; US: Colorado
KEYWORDS: banglist; batf; craziesincolorado; donutwatch; janetreno; tardsonparade; zerotolerance
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To: 300magnum

It looks like Colorado has joined Kalipornia, New Joisey, New Yawk, Taxachusetts, Illannoyed, and Floriduh in the idiot competition.


21 posted on 04/05/2006 1:39:37 PM PDT by ZULU (Non nobis, non nobis, Domine, sed nomini tuo da gloriam. God, guts, and guns made America great.)
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To: Toby06
Cops never once gave me a hard time.

Things sure have changed from looking at LE as a friend then to that of an adversary today. As the old timers retire we will see more and more of the mirrored sunglass variety. It is a shame that this young man has had to go through this and for what?

22 posted on 04/05/2006 1:39:49 PM PDT by beltfed308 (Cloth or link. Happiness is a perfect trunnion.)
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To: 300magnum
You can't tell from a photo if its loaded, empty, or has snap caps in it - so what if his finger was on the trigger - this judge is inferring way too much. Yes, the Angel of Death thing is very tasteless and insensitive, but not illegal. This judge is over stepping his bounds by a wide margin. Image hosting by TinyPic
23 posted on 04/05/2006 1:41:14 PM PDT by Sax
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To: Junior_G
Is it just me, or have our freedoms been eroding at an accelerated rate recently? This judge's ruling is disgusting.

No, it's not you. This abortion of a judge seems to think he's a better father than the dad in this story. Welcome to the Nanny-State.

24 posted on 04/05/2006 1:42:14 PM PDT by paulcissa (Only YOU can prevent liberalism.)
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To: 300magnum
Colorado law prohibits possession of a handgun by a juvenile but permits parents to give them permission to possess guns in their homes - even without supervision.

Except when Colorado doesn't feel like allowing what the law allows.

25 posted on 04/05/2006 1:44:32 PM PDT by dead (I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
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To: 300magnum

should have had the Department of Homeland Security in on
this big, series bust.


I guess pedophiles AND hoplophobes cruise Myspace now.


26 posted on 04/05/2006 1:44:51 PM PDT by Rakkasan1 (Muslims pray to Allah, Allah prays to Chuck Norris.(one nation, under sharia))
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To: JTN
An Evergreen High School student who posted Internet photos of himself posing with guns was convicted Tuesday on a charge of possession of a handgun by a juvenile. The conviction came despite his parents' testimony that they gave him permission to handle guns in their home without their supervision.

Colorado law prohibits possession of a handgun by a juvenile but permits parents to give them permission to possess guns in their homes - even without supervision.

The jury just convicted this kid of not breaking the law. The law doesnt say you can have parental permission to have a gun unsupervised as long as your finger isnt on the trigger.This judge needs to be impeached the prosacuter and jury need to go to prison

27 posted on 04/05/2006 1:45:54 PM PDT by freepatriot32 (Holding you head high & voting Libertarian is better then holding your nose and voting republican)
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To: Travis McGee; Joe Brower; Mr. Mojo; DaveLoneRanger

fascist jbt ping


28 posted on 04/05/2006 1:47:28 PM PDT by freepatriot32 (Holding you head high & voting Libertarian is better then holding your nose and voting republican)
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To: Shimmer128
"A government that does not trust it's law abiding citizens to keep and bear arms is itself unworthy of trust." -James Madison

Needs repeated, over and over again, to every Senator, Congressman, State legislator, County government, City and Village Board members, judges, magistrates and whacko liberal nut jobs, everywhere.

29 posted on 04/05/2006 1:47:36 PM PDT by SolidRedState (I Love TEXAS!)
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To: 300magnum
[The photos were posted on the popular teen Web site MySpace.com. The photos showed him posing with a number of rifles and three handguns - a .45-caliber pistol, a .22-caliber revolver and a .357-caliber revolver.]



The legal details of this case aside, this reminds me of when I worked in a photo lab back in '90 which had the job of processing and printing the high school group pictures for the city of Aurora, Illinois. We had the first large print made, and in the back row was a student holding a handgun up in the air.

I can only imagine that his thought process must have been: "I want all my peers to fear me when they see this picture of me standing among them at school, looking mean and holding a gun." I also assume that he didn't think past that to the part where the picture is turned over to police who arrest him for possession of a handgun on school property and have photo evidence of the felony, and then the lab removes him from any prints the school releases to the public.
30 posted on 04/05/2006 1:50:21 PM PDT by spinestein (The mainstream news media is to journalism what fast food chains are to fine dining.)
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To: yobid

Son of Senate president offered plea deal in assault case
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1609544/posts



>>>> Two young men charged with sodomizing 18 boys at a youth camp last year have been offered a plea agreement that may net them little jail time and no record of sexual assault. <<<<<

YUP!


31 posted on 04/05/2006 1:51:49 PM PDT by quietolong
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To: Shimmer128

Yep!


32 posted on 04/05/2006 1:53:54 PM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: SWAMPSNIPER
Am I supposed to drag my old butt out, when there is a young man around to handle the problem?

If he asks for the depleted uranium rounds, you better get up and check it out.

33 posted on 04/05/2006 1:55:41 PM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: 300magnum
I was looking back through the article and couln't find any mention of any broken laws.

I think you misstate that. Reading through the article you find acknowledgement that what was done was specifically legal.

If this article is anything remotely like factual, then this judge is simply a loon.

34 posted on 04/05/2006 1:57:39 PM PDT by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: Gordongekko909

Guns=Columbine (/simplistic liberal anti-gun sentiment)


35 posted on 04/05/2006 1:58:01 PM PDT by magslinger (Pray for your enemies, It's like taking a B52 to a gun fight.)
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To: 300magnum
"A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.

I'm not trying to be funny but, where in the second amendment does it specify age?
36 posted on 04/05/2006 2:00:23 PM PDT by TheForceOfOne (El Chupacabra spotted near U.S./Mexican border feeding on illegal immigrants. Pass it on..)
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To: LambSlave
Is it just me or has the nation gone completely irretrievably insane? I wish this whole trend to totalitarianism would resolve to the inevitable conclusion and we could be free men again for a little while...

Sadly, a lot of people look at things that are happening and think, "Does it personally have anything to do with me? It doesn't? Then, I'm too busy to care." It's just easier to ignore it. Then they will wonder how things got so out of hand.

37 posted on 04/05/2006 2:01:58 PM PDT by HungarianGypsy (I'm writing a post to a message board. I don't care if it's not grammatically perfect.)
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To: 300magnum

This should be easily overturned on appeal.


38 posted on 04/05/2006 2:05:27 PM PDT by Sir Gawain
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To: 300magnum
Come and get me, copper.


39 posted on 04/05/2006 2:11:49 PM PDT by KarinG1 (Some of us are trying to engage in philosophical discourse. Please don't allow us to interrupt you.)
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To: 300magnum
who has been held in detention since his arrest in February, will be sentenced June 1

Good grief. Even people accused of murder can raise bail.

The world has gone insane. I remember classmates in my HS leaving guns in their trucks (exposed in rear window gun racks) in the school parking lot because they were going hunting after school. We also had REAL WORKING military M-14s (two fully automatic) in the school armory for the ROTC unit.

40 posted on 04/05/2006 2:14:34 PM PDT by RadioAstronomer (Senior member of Darwin Central)
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