Posted on 08/12/2005 9:19:32 PM PDT by Former Military Chick
Dressed in camouflage fatigues, the two boys waited in the woods behind the school until the lunch hour, when one of them ran into the hallway and triggered a fire alarm. As classmates and teachers filed out of the buildings Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, opened fire with high-powered rifles stolen from Golden's grandfather. By the time the last shot was fired four girls and an English teacher, who had attempted to shield the children from the barrage, were dead. What happened in Jonesboro that day in 1998 awakened America to the terror of school shootings and left an indelible mark on the northeast Arkansas town that was yesterday trying to come to terms with the fact that one of the convicted murderers, Johnson, is due to walk free from prison. Golden is scheduled to be freed in 2007.
A now-closed legal loophole means the killers can only be held until their 21st birthdays, and with Johnson's birthday falling yesterday his expected release from a federal penitentiary in Memphis has re-opened old wounds in the town, with many residents questioning whether justice has been served in the case.
It has also drawn a sharp reaction from gun control campaigners, who criticised the fact that because Johnson was convicted as a minor his criminal record will be wiped clean and he will be allowed to buy a gun.
Whitney Irving, a student at Westside Middle School, was shot in the back but survived the attack. Although she has since graduated from high school, married and had a child, the attack remains a part of her everyday life.
"A lot of people are really scared to this very day and we have not forgotten anything," she told the Associated Press.
Mitchell Wright, whose wife Shannon was the teacher who was killed, said he has tried to explain Johnson's release to his son, who was two at the time of his mother's death.
"He's told me, 'I don't think it's right he gets to go home to his momma and I only get to see my momma on videos'," Mr Wright said.
The Jonesboro shooting was the first major schoolyard assault in which teenagers attacked their classmates.
Less than a year later 13 died, along with two young gunmen, at Columbine High School, Colorado, while in March this year 10 people were killed when a student opened fire at a school on a native American reservation in northern Minnesota before turning the gun on himself.
Dale Haas, the sheriff at the time of the shootings and now a judge in the town, believes Johnson and his accomplice are getting off too lightly. "We forget what they had done," he told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "They killed somebody with malice ... Would you really want them as your neighbours?"
Kenneth Heard, a reporter who covered the shooting and the trial, said: "This town is hurting. It is bringing back a whole load of bad memories for a lot of people."
Johnson's mother, Gretchen Woodard, said her son would not be moving back to Arkansas; instead he would enrol in college - possibly a seminary - at least a day's drive away.
Jonesboro's sheriff, Jack McCann, told CNN yesterday that if Johnson returned to the town "we cannot guarantee his safety".
Well, that is far from the truth, the "loop hole" was the current law's of their land. They have since changed the law, but, he was sentenced under the former law. He has served his time. It is what the law required.
Here is the thing, and I may get slammed for these opinions but they are mine but always happy to read another's point of view.
Do we put a kid into prison for their rest of their life, even if they have not gone through puberty, voted, had a beer, decided to serve in the military. We do not consider these kids old enough to do that, how do we hold them criminally responsible.
Prison has long left the rehabilitation side of the coin, but it is my impression that the institution for kids, actually still works with the kids, give them a daily routine of classes, as if they were at home and hopefully they have an end is sight where they can return to the community and contribute.
I saw the Mayor of the community who said, if this young man returned he could not guarantee his safety. I hope, and pray, that there are no retaliations, it would be waste.
One other point, this kid has kept his nose clean, he says he would like to pursue the ministry, so he seems to have some goals and I can only hope he will have better luck than Lionel Tate who killed a little girl and said the WWF was the cause, he was given break by the State of Florida and that kid squandered it. He is now awaiting trial for a robbery and the judge denied him bail.
I love seeing these stories in the British press all the time.
If he had stolen his neighbor's chickens I may agree with you.
But what he and his bud did was cold, calculating murder. Those are the types that wring the necks of cats and pull off the legs of hamsters.
They should be exterminated because it *will* happen again.
The little dirtball should be sent off to Club Gitmo to do his "community service" being a party favor for the guests there.
I have a great deal of compassion for most kids, in most situations, but this little piece of pig manure isn't deserving of that kindness.
If they had kept his worthless carcass in jail til he was in his 40's I might be a bit more caring...
YES!
But they were responsible. Who else was?
They were old enough to know right from wrong, that they were not "playing a game". If they couldn't recognize that their actions had serious consequences, if they had so little respect for human life, then they deserve to be confined for the rest of their lives.
Not for their benefit; for ours.
Why didn't you consider or address the real possibility of them murdering again. Statistically, the odds of criminals engaging in further criminal activity upon release is incredibly high. If you feel convinced otherwise about these two, perhaps you would feel differently if they were among your children in your town... What these kids did involved considerable planning and hateful reflection.
How about the perspective of the citizenry, who will now live in greater fear with mass murderers set free among their daughters and sons. The citizenry have civil rights too.
I guess it has to depend on their age and the severity of the crime. I hope that 13-year-olds have the wherewithal not to kill their classmates. Millions go through life without doing anything of the sort. It might seem harsh to send a young teenager away for life, but it's also harsh to give innocent folks the death penalty on school grounds for one's own amusement.
Now we give society a jail house educated murderer whose role models have been the kiddy bass asses. He has learned to con, lie, cheat and beat the system. He probably has been a bit of a celebrity being a murderer among the kiddy crooks. It would be interesting to have his peers give us an honest profile on him and compare it to the staff assessment. The same dark side lurks in this mind. Cold blooded murder of this nature ranks right in there with Charles Manson. Time to smell the coffee. We haven't heard the last of this sicko.
Prayers for the families and the loss of their loved ones. They will live with this pain for the rest of their life. No punishment, no amount of years behind bars will ever take their pain away. God bless them all.
PING
To address those who have already commented on the thread, thank you for being so courteous while disagreeing with me.
Do I think they should have remained in jail longer, perhaps. However, if there was any, just a little bit of rehab, than sending them onto an adult penal institution would only in my eye's increase the likelihood of their turning to crime, as they will have nothing else to know, they have been incarcerated since 11 and 13.
I do think there should be some type of supervision, not only for us, but for them. If there is a time where this young man might fail, it would be now. I hope that there is family and clergy who will be there to assist them.
The other young man, he will have served more than half his life, I do have mixed feelings on this issue.
I support the legislature to change the laws in their states. But, one thing many are not aware of is in most states the age of release is 26 and their record is clean. It is disconcerting for sure.
I hope this will be a success story but I am not optimistic, I hope they will not repeat but they might, it is however less of a chance than those sex offender's re offending.
But, and I am serious about this, if we are going to treat children as adult's with the same mind as you or I, than we should afford them the rights of driving, marriage, military voting.. the list goes on and I am a bit extreme there is something out of whack with all of this.
It is an honor to disagree with you. I actually understand and agree with you. But there are some concerns. Had this event taken place today, the sentence would have been much different. That is what happens when folks decide to get involved to make a difference.
I just do not know about keeping a child in a youth prison than adult prison all their life. Lets just shoot them and be done with it. There is a fine line that I think we are all straddling and in the end with no real solution.
This young man has been released, his record clean, I hope, that someone will take him in, help him find a path to give back to the community. Sometimes one has to have faith if there is nothing else we can do.
Should he shoot, murder, rob, do drugs, in other words return to the slammer, you can whip 50 times with a wet noodle and make me write on the FReep board, I was wrong 100 times.
But I will say a prayer for all.
Hello, you need to turn on your mind's eye please, murdering 4 people already indicates they have turned to crime, duh.
And how about the people they killed and their families, why are you not concerned for their feelings?
When underage kids commit crimes their parents should do the time.
Becky
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