Posted on 06/26/2002 8:25:29 AM PDT by Sir Gawain
Mollie Love thought the maximum length of time in prison would have been enough to make the 14-year-old boy who took her car at gunpoint back in 1999 never pull a gun on anyone else.
"I don't think counseling or probation will help," Love, now 69, wrote in a victim impact statement about the boy, Andre Bates, who took her 1992 Buick Roadmaster and threatened to shoot her outside her garage.
"Without strict discipline," Love wrote, "what's to stop him from doing it again and again?"
But apparently not even the two-plus years that Bates spent at a juvenile prison for the armed robbery of Love was enough to stop Bates from robbing again.
This time, Bates met tragic results: The teenager was shot and killed June 15 while trying to rob the Drop Inn, 3043 N. 35th St., court records say. He died with the loot from the robbery in his pockets: 69 quarters, two $1 bills, four $5 bills and two $20 bills, the records state.
The tavern owner, Jack Moga, 67, told police he shot Bates one "millisecond" before Bates fired his own gun. Prosecutors said Moga will not be charged because they cannot show the shooting was unjustified.
Theodorick Harris, 31, a convicted armed robber, is charged with three counts of armed robbery for his role in the robbery. Harris had been sentenced to 12 years in prison in 1995 for two counts of armed robbery, court records say.
Bates was under supervision at the time of his death through the state's Serious Juvenile Offender program, court records say.
The Department of Corrections on Friday denied the Journal Sentinel's request for Bates' parole file, which contains details of his supervision and efforts to rehabilitate him.
Silvia Jackson, deputy administrator of the state Division of Juvenile Corrections, declined to comment on Bates' case but defended her agency.
"Public protection is the most important part of what we do," Jackson said. "Ultimately, these juveniles have individual choices."
The Serious Juvenile Offender program is a five-year program and the most stringent under state juvenile law, short of waiving an accused child into adult court. Offenders can spend up to three years in prison and are to be monitored for the remainder of the program.
Jackson said the program gives juveniles counseling in the areas of "skill-building" and "decision-making."
So where did Bates - who was ordered into the program until October 2004 - go wrong?
Bates' uncle, Philip Bates, 41, says his nephew's troubles began early on and arose from a continuing lack of nurturing and guidance in his home.
"I think Andre was calling out for help," Philip Bates said. "But nobody listened to him."
A probation officer noted in 1999 that Bates "doesn't seem to have any strong attachments to either of his primary parents." Court records also indicate that Bates had poor academic skills because of "prolonged environmental impoverishment."
In many ways, Andre Bates' childhood mirrors that of Laron Ball, the 20-year-old man who was killed in a Milwaukee County courtroom last month as he struggled for a deputy's gun after being pronounced guilty of felony murder.
Like Ball, Andre Bates said he was "embarrassed" because he could not read.
A psychologist noted in 1999 that for Bates to have a "reasonable chance of succeeding in our conventional socioeconomic society," authorities would have to address his "multiple special needs."
Relatives say Andre Bates had a strained relationship with his parents. Neither parent spoke at length or in detail about Bates' childhood.
Philip Bates, an AT&T Internet sales representative in Modesto, Calif., had been visiting family in Milwaukee when his nephew was killed. Just hours before Bates was killed, Philip Bates said, he advised the teen to set goals and surround himself with positive people.
He said his nephew wanted to "turn his life around" and join the Job Corps with a girlfriend he planned to marry. But the man was at a loss to explain why his nephew failed to follow his advice.
Love, the woman Andre Bates robbed back in 1999, expressed concern over the plight of youngsters such as Andre. A retired teacher's assistant at the McDowell Montessori School, Love also stressed the need to teach children to read early on in life.
"Children have to feel like they are wanted, like they are part of society, and people really care about them," Love said. "But with nobody telling you right from wrong or 'I love you' or 'You did a good job,' somewhere down the line, that child is going to get lost."
Stay Safe !
Bwahahahahahaaaaaaa!!!!
"We're depraved 'cause we're deprived".
BWAHAHAHA!!!What bullsh*t!
FMCDH
Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown
Wisconsin. I'll bet they tried as hard as they could to figure out a way to charge the tavern owner.
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