"Little sympathy? State prosecutors seem to have bought the claim that it was "joke" (and nothing more) hook, line, and sinker."
Well, the media seems to have done that, to a certain extent. It's early days yet. At this point, with the idiots caught, I'll just be watching to see what happens. We've all just about talked this to death. It'll all come out...in time.
We will see....but I am far more skeptical than you. It is pretty clear these kids were Satanists and that they didn't (contrary to the prosecuters) travel all the way to Bibb county to burn buildings for the sake of burning buildings. They burned churches. Yet, we are already seeing this downplayed and instead they are being portrayed as simple pyromananiacs. Why? Could it be that the political establishment in this state doesn't want elite colleges, like Bimirmingham Southern get a reputation for turning out Satanists? This is beginning to smell awful funny.