Boy who started 'Columbine syndrome' freed at 21

Guardian Unlimited ^

[Asphalt]

Sick

[L98Fiero]

Actually, he didn't start it, this guy did. Luke Woodham.

http://www.cnn.com/US/9806/12/school.shooting.verdict/

He got 2 life sentences and 7 20-year sentences.

[sinanju]

I really, really hope some anonymous someone presents young Master Johnson with the bill.

Having got that off my chest, let us not forget the accomplices here. The sensationalist media should be given due credit for their part in making schoolhouse massacres a grand american tradition.

[seacapn]

Seven years for five deaths? Is that how much a life is worth in Arkansas?

[caver]

This is wrong.

[Stone Mountain]

Jonesboro's sheriff, Jack McCann, told CNN yesterday that if Johnson returned to the town "we cannot guarantee his safety".

Johnson may be scum, but he is a free man under our system of laws. For a sheriff to make a veiled threat like this is inexcusable. Either uphold our laws or don't be a sheriff. What if he had said this same thing about a racial minority or a conservaitve politician who might move to the town?

[One Proud Dad]

Truth is, law enforcement cannot guarantee anyone's safety, his your or mine, they can only investigate the aftermath. It is just a blanket and empty statement.

[Stone Mountain]

Truth is, law enforcement cannot guarantee anyone's safety, his your or mine, they can only investigate the aftermath. It is just a blanket and empty statement.

Of course the statement is technically true. But it's also clear that it's a veiled threat. Again, what would you think if this sheriff had said, "Yeah, this black guy can move into our town if he wants. But we sure can't guarantee his safety." All true, but the intent of what he is saying is perfectly clear.

[Shalom Israel]

Johnson may be scum, but he is a free man under our system of laws. For a sheriff to make a veiled threat like this is inexcusable. Either uphold our laws or don't be a sheriff.

Another way to look at it: cops can't, and don't, protect anyone--they wait until you're murdered, and try to figure out who did it. So when he says it about this scumball, he's really just grandstanding.

[Stone Mountain]

Another way to look at it: cops can't, and don't, protect anyone--they wait until you're murdered, and try to figure out who did it.

True, but his intent is clear. See my post 8.

So when he says it about this scumball, he's really just grandstanding.

Well, I don't think sheriffs ought to be grandstanding either. But c'mon, are you really saying that when a sheriff says something like that, it's not a threat?

[BureaucratusMaximus]

This is wrong.

Understatement of the year my FRiend.

[Asphalt]

bump

[Asphalt]

I remember seeing something about a guy who was recommended a 5005 year sentence by the jury. The judge thought it was rediculou and shortened it to 1001 years

[auboy]

Seven years for five deaths? Is that how much a life is worth in Arkansas?

Yes. Compared to the "Clinton Curve", this POS served a long time.

[Shalom Israel]

But c'mon, are you really saying that when a sheriff says something like that, it's not a threat?

I do say it's not a threat: the sheriff has no intention of harming the guy, and if someone kills him, the sheriff will investigate. He's merely venting his own and the community's outrage, in a statement which is harmless because it's self-evidently true--if someone wants to rub the guy out, a town full of cops won't make any difference.

I would agree that the sheriff intended to sound macho. I don't know if his job is elected--some sheriffs are--but his remarks probably resonated with the locals. Nevertheless, the guy has nothing whatever to fear from that sheriff.

He could, and maybe should, get in trouble for saying things that suggest he might be less than diligent investigating the guy's death, but that's not the same thing as an actual threat.

[subterfuge]

"c'mon, are you really saying that when a sheriff says something like that, it's not a threat?"

What I believe the Sheriff is saying is that he doesn't have enough manpower to protect the murderer.

[Stone Mountain]

What I believe the Sheriff is saying is that he doesn't have enough manpower to protect the murderer.

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree then. I believe if he were talking about resources, he would have come out and said so. If he had said the same thing about someone else (like my black person example above), would it still be just as acceptible?

[Stone Mountain]

Do you think he's encouraging vigilantism by coming out and telling everyone that he's not capable of protecting this person? Sorry, it still sounds like a veiled threat to me - "if you move into this town, don't expect that the sheriff's department will protect you." It wouldn't be so bad if someone else had made the statement - but the sheriff is in charge of protecting the people in his jurisdiction. When the person in charge of law enforcement of a town comes out and says he can't protect someone, he's basically telling other people to have at him since the police are incapable of protecting him.

Would you have any problem with the sheriff making the statement about other people (like the black man quote I referenced above?)

[kcvl]

Middle school shooter Mitchell Johnson leaves Craighead County Courthouse in Jonesboro, Ark., in this file photo. By Rodney Freeman, Jonesboro Sun, via AP

Johnson at 13

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.

[kcvl]

Gretchen Woodard still lives near the Westside Middle School, where her son, Mitchell Johnson, then 13, and another boy, Andrew Golden, then 11, staged a fire drill and opened fire on the children and teachers as they exited the building. Five people were killed and ten were injured.

Woodard told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that it wouldn't be wise for her son to move back to Arkansas. She says she can guarantee that he won't be. She hinted that Johnson will move at least a day's drive from Jonesboro and enroll in college. She says he is sorry for his part in the slayings and she hopes people will give him a chance to do good.