Posted on 01/20/2007 4:30:50 PM PST by NormsRevenge
An Orangevale youth who fatally shot a passing motorist with a hunting rifle had to write a 1,000 word essay on why he was sorry and will serve 30 days in juvenile hall.
The sentence is far short of the maximum penalty of 14 years' incarceration.
The 14-year-old shot Gary Marcy, 69, of South Natomas, on Sept. 27, while barely missing his wife of nearly 50 years, who was sitting beside Marcy in the vehicle.
"I killed a man that day, and nobody knows how it feels," the youth said as part of the essay he read in court. "I cannot, no matter how much I want to, take that bullet back."
Sacramento County supervising juvenile prosecutor Richard Lewkowitz said the boy did not know the gun was loaded, did not intend harm, and had no criminal record.
As part of his sentence, the special education student also must spend 500 hours speaking to other youths on the dangers of guns.
Gary Marcy Jr. said the family felt the punishment was too light for the crime.
"He's only going away for 30 days," Marcy said. "My dad's never coming back."
Sorry, but even if it's manslaughter, this is not long enough. I have not seen all the evidence, but something on the order of two or three years would be more appropriate at that age, if the preponderance of evidence truly suggests that it was not deliberate.
What kind of lesson is this kid learning?
He did pull the trigger, right? (Pardon my confusion, because the article only mentions aiming the gun at a car.)
Since when has special eduction equaled diminished capacity. Kids today are told by their parents to act crazy get put on Prozac and then they get SSI. I myself think the sentence is pure horse manure, if the kid is smart enough to write and essay, and spend 500 hours making speeches he can do the 14 year.
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Just raising it as a possibility. Good point on his writing essay and speaking ... and widespread use of mood leveling meds.
Then he was told to "go stand in the corner and don't do that again. Oh, and no Oreos after school!"
Sweden makes it mandatory for all high school level youth to attend firearms education courses. Later on, they are required to spend 2 years in some kind of military service.
Swedens' murder rates are some of the lowest in the world, as well as shooting accidents such as this.
The answer lies in the reacord as well as the statistics.
It sure sounds like it, but they also said he was not "sighting" on the car when he did so, not sure if it had a scope, but it was described as a high-powered rifle so it may have had one.
I took gun safety classes at 12 or 13 I think, I grew up around rifles, shotguns mostly. couldn't hit a damn thing if I tried... but I scared a lot of game.
My dad gave me a 22 single fire Mossberg at the age of 6. He trained me carefully and made certain that I did not point it at anything that I did not intend to kill. That rule applied wether the rifle was loaded or not.
I shot countless thousands of rounds and graduated to the high power class by the age of 12.
After I went into the service, it was needless to say how well I qualified in Basic Rifle Marxmanship. I owe my lif to my Dad. That shooting ability kept me alive in Vietnam.
Just because a child is designated Special Ed...Does NOT mean he/she lacks the ability to rationalize or have good judgement...It depends on the child's disability.
The youth mentioned can write and is articulate enough to speak to an audience.
Aw, isn't that sweet? Such a dear.
Gary Marcy does.
Special ed killer?
Lock him up for the max.
This is probably the biggest accomplishment of his life. Worthless scum.
I guarantee you if he had shot a cat, the sentence would be a lot stiffer.
Boo hoo.
Maybe what people are thinking about is the dead man and his family, and not the hurt feelings of guilt of your buddy. Maybe they think 30 days and an essay aren't enough compensation for them and society.
“I am actually friends with the kid that did this.”
Hmmm. Welcome to Free Republic.
The Speical Ed kid writes better than you do.
snif,,,snif,snif,,,snifsnifsnif...
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