Teen victim of Spring pipe attack dies after apparent jump from ship

Houston Chronicle ^ | July 2, 2007 | BILL MURPHY, PAIGE HEWITT and JENNIFER LEAHY

[TheTruthAintPretty]

A Spring teen who survived a brutal beating with a pipe last year apparently jumped to his death from a Cozumel-bound cruise ship on Sunday.

An 18-year-old was observed by "a bunch of people" jumping over the railing of the upper deck of Carnival Cruise Lines' Ecstasy around 7:35 a.m. Sunday, said Coast Guard spokesman Adam Eggers.

[ snip ]

Ritcheson's death comes less than three months after he testified before Congress about how two teens nearly killed him on April 23, 2006 by repeatedly kicking a patio umbrella stand into his rectum while shouting "white power!"

[TexasCajun]

One perpetrator got a life sentence and the other 60+ yrs, but neither was charged with a "Hate Crime".

Poor kid.

[theDentist]

Sad... his family must be devastated.

[Obadiah]

Very tragic for this victim. No doubt he bore many emotional scars. However, as the previous poster pointed out, the one perp got life and the other got 60 years without a hate crimes enhancement.

Hate crimes is a tool that will be used against people who do not subscribe to liberal PC think.

[billybudd]

Trial testimony revealed Ritcheson and Gus Sons, whom he'd befriended at an alternative school for students with disciplinary problems, met up with Tuck and Turner at a crawfish festival in Spring the night of the attack. From there, they went to Sons' house, where they drank vodka, smoked marijuana and used cocaine and Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug.

So this guy and his buddies from the school-for-thugs got drugged up beyond belief and they turned on him when they thought he was trying to make out with the kid sister of one of them. Doesn't sound like a "hate crime" and I don't have much sympathy for him. Sorry.

[TexasCajun]

No body deserves to have a large umbrella pole rammed up their ass!

You think the kid got what he deserved for whatever reason so you have no sympathy for him? Wow.

[mpackard]

Actually...the drug tests found HIM clean. And, I’m with Texascajun....somethin wrong with you if you think that there’s EVER a good reason to “repeatedly kick and umbrella pipe” up a kids ass.

[Orange1998]

Your beyond repair. The kid had nothing to do it, You disgust me.

[kenth]

Yep, poor kid. Prayers for him and his family.

After the fact, it’s obvious that he needed help, though he refused it. He put on a happy demeanor for family and friends, but I can’t imagine anyone who’s gone through that could adjust so well in so short a time.

[Orange1998]

After reading his post, Another example evil does exist.

[writmeister]

The Texas hate crime sentence enhancement is not available for first degree felonies because the defendant is already eligible for a life sentence.

[Orange1998]

Ritcheson, a Mexican-American, was beaten unconscious and sodomized with a plastic pole by two men shouting “White Power!” during a drug-fueled party in April 2006. He was hospitalized for more than three months and endured 20-30 painful surgeries in the months following the attack.

[Bruinator]

Yup it is a occasion. This happened in the city in which I live.

[BeAllYouCanBe]

Another example evil does exist.

And all of the legislation and all of the laws passed by 10,000 congresses won't stop this kind of evil.

What I see here is kids who don't have involved parents, and schools warehousing obstructive and recalcitrant teens rather than dealing with the kids problems.

And of course a society that glorifies drugs that seems to be the biggest problem in this case -- "kids who learn to trust drugs grow up to be drug abusers".

[BeAllYouCanBe]

Ritcheson, a Mexican-American, was beaten unconscious and sodomized with a plastic pole by two men shouting “White Power!”

I am not doubting the story but criticizing the writers here. If he was unconscious how would he know what the men said?

Since I live in Texas and in my neighborhood it really isn't clear who is a "Mexican-America" and who is darker skinned European what was said that identified Ritcheson as a Mexican-American?

[billybudd]

I didn’t say he *deserved* anything. From the article, it sounded like he was getting drugged up with his friends and they went out of control, but I guess that’s not the case.

[muawiyah]

Somehow the kid got the idea that "hate crime" laws deter criminals from beating people up and carving holes in their bodies.

How stupid ~ there are criminals who will use any excuse to get the chance to beat people up and carve holes in them, particularly after a night of mixing alcohol, illegal drugs, controlled prescription drugs, and, no doubt, smoking cigarettes, the principal evil of our time.

[muawiyah]

There were several other folks at this party. We did not hear about them being sentenced so it must be presumed they informed.

[MEGoody]

From there, they went to Sons' house, where they drank vodka, smoked marijuana and used cocaine and Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug.

I'd like to hear from the 'make drugs legal' crowd on this one.

[LIConFem]

I hope both are having a good time being poked in the pokey. Little ba$tards deserve torture.

Prayers for this kid and his family.