Posted on 08/22/2013 6:53:27 AM PDT by kevcol
The boys looked terribly young and more stunned than scared when they were led individually into a packed courtroom in rural Oklahoma to face charges over the murder of Christopher Lane, an Australian they had never met.
The prosecutor, Jason Hicks, repeated the terrible details already shared by police - that Mr Lane, who was visiting his girlfriend, Sarah Harper had jogged past the boys as they sat around outside a house on Friday afternoon; that they selected him as a target, followed him in a car and shot him about four minutes later.
For people trying to understand what drove the boys to kill Mr Lane, their brief court appearances offered a few hints but no answers beyond the information already released by police: that they were bored.
Chancey Allen Luna, 16, is accused of pulling the trigger of the .22-calibre handgun used to kill Mr Lane. He was charged with first-degree murder and refused a bond before being led away in his orange prison pyjamas, shackled hand and foot.
As he stood before the judge, his mother, sitting in the third row, was handed documents detailing her son's rights. Her hands shook as she gripped the papers and she sobbed as he was led away.
Two rows in front of her, Cindy Harper, Sarah's mother, sat quietly throughout the proceedings.
James Francis Edwards jnr, 15, is alleged to have been a passenger in the car and was also charged with first-degree murder. Mr Hicks said the youth had been cold and callous throughout the proceedings.
The prosecutor said that as James stood before officers at the charging counter he danced, and had since treated the matter as a ''joke''.
Mr Hicks noted that a short time after the murder James appeared in the very courthouse he was formally charged in to attend a court-ordered supervision meeting for earlier offences.
But the boy's court-appointed lawyer, Jim Berry, told Fairfax Media that his client took the matter seriously, and denied his attitude was callous. ''He is very upset,'' he said.
As he was led away, more sobbing could be heard throughout the small court.
Outside the court his father, James Edwards snr, said he stood by his boy, an athlete who dreamt of competing as a wrestler in the Olympic Games. He said James was a happy boy who, while being known to police, had not been in serious trouble before. He did not believe his son could have been responsible for the killing, adding he had heard rumours the boys were ''wannabe gangsters'', but only since the shooting.
Duncan's police chief had told media earlier the boys ''wanted to be Billy Bob badasses'' .
Mr Edwards said his son did not grow up around guns. ''He said to me, 'Dad, why don't we have guns around the house?' and I said, 'Because I don't need no guns'.''
James' older sister, Rachel Padilla, said she believed racism was a factor in the charges, with the two African-American boys receiving the tougher charges.
The eldest of the trio is Michael Dewayne Jones, 17. He has been charged with being an accessory after the fact of first-degree murder and a vehicle and firearm offence. He also faces what Mr Hicks called ''a long, long sentence'' if convicted, but Mr Hicks told the court he had co-operated with police and the district attorney. His bond was set at $US1 million ($1.1 million).
Because of the seriousness of the charges not guilty pleas were automatically entered on the boys' behalf and they were given no opportunity to address the court at any length, with the judge silencing one when he made to offer details of the crime.
While many of their supporters sobbed openly, the trio remained mostly silent, making little attempt to even meet the eyes of those in court. They raised their shackled hands to take their oaths and offered quiet responses when the judge asked if they understood the process and their rights.
Over the road from the grassy verge where Mr Lane died lives Roy Burke, the head football coach of the local middle school. He remembers Sarah Harper from when he taught her PE when she was at Will Rogers Elementary School.
''You think things like this don't happen in your town, but obviously they happen anywhere,'' he said.
''Bad things happen to good people.''
The 16 year old.
How can you be known to the police, but not be in serious trouble?”””
The entire Negro race has a chronic disease called DENIAL.
They all claim that their kids didn’t do it.
And a laundry list of other comments.
I sure would like to know what Mr Edward’s ‘line in the sand’ is as to what constitues ‘serious trouble.
Is murder serious enough for him????
Mulatto! Black thug gangstas don’t hang with crackers’s!
White?... He’s a mulatto. Just like Baracka Claus!
Mulatto. Examine the facial structures.
Cherry, the mod will probably strike this, but there are an amazing number of extremely obese white women that no white man will look at who end up with very skinny no job black guys as husbands or lovers. The fat girl usually has several mulatto kids and either has a low paying job or is on welfare / disability.
What a dumbass post...........
The father of Michael Dewayne Jones, 17, speaks outside the courtroom after his son and two other teenage boys are arraigned in the shooting death of Christopher Lane on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2013 in Duncan, Okla. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
The father of Michael Dewayne Jones, 17, one of three teenage suspects in the shooting death of Christopher Lane leaves the courtroom after their arraigned on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2013 in Duncan, Okla. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
What, they own a Popeyes Fried Chicken franchise and believe in "quality control"?
Well at least the White Panthers aren’t calling for the lynching of the perps, twitting the wrong address of innocent people in an attempt to have people go the home of the victim’s family and murder them, or calling for the death of all black infants, courtesy of the megaphone of the national media.
Wait, there is no White Panther group. Although, judging from the media slander of the white people who gathered in Knoxville to protest the torture/ murder of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsome, any whites who gathered to support the victims and their families in this case would be branded as “Nazis” and “KKK” anyway.
If Charlie Manson had a son,,,
Australian Cattle Dog comes to mind.
Who is taking bets? Will bet anything the tweets are not admitted in their case.
Duncan OK is 90% white and about 2% black. It wouldn't be inconceivable at all of punk gangs to be multiracial in that area. This guy's an Eminem type.
Would love to know how many of those in the pics held jobs.
My guess is ZERO.
I would never bet against that. I mean our government is doing everything they can to make Nidal Hassan be found guilty of littering or something
Charge the parents too.
No way their kids could amass a pile of hundreds without them knowing. No effing way.
This case has me pissed.
DeWayne’s hair settles the issue. Do a closeup
Do the crips even take whites?
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