Posted on 08/21/2002 10:19:31 AM PDT by ValerieUSA
EVERETT -- An irate father stormed out of a crowded Snohomish County Superior Court room yesterday, declaring the sentencing of one of his son's killers a mockery.
"Good God! You've got to be joking!" exclaimed Pat Lorbiecki, erupting from his seat after Judge Richard Thorpe handed Emmanuel Wilson a sentence of 12 1/2 years for second-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon.
Prosecutors had recommended a sentence of 20 years for 17-year-old Wilson, who admitted wielding the souvenir baseball bat used in the clubbing of 15-year-old Joshua Lorbiecki.
Many of Pat Lorbiecki's angry friends and relatives followed him out of the courtroom, which was filled to standing-room-only, with security officers screening people at the door and keeping guard inside.
Wilson was one of four youths sentenced yesterday for their part in the botched robbery plot that left the popular Everett High School sophomore to die on a middle-school playfield Nov. 17 of last year.
Authorities say that on the night of his death, Joshua Lorbiecki called one of the boys, Matthew Teague, to make a marijuana buy. Teague and three companions -- Emmanuel Wilson, his older brother Fernando and their cousin Steve Limar -- admitted to hatching a plot to "jack Joshua," luring him to the playfield to rob him of some $400.
They never got the money.
Although the boys rifled Lorbiecki's pockets, they found only $12.
Police later discovered $400 stashed away in a separate pocket.
Court records indicate that two of the boys attempted to help Lorbiecki off the field after the beating, but took off when they heard sirens, leaving him to die. They all fled town soon after.
The four defendants, ages 16 to 20, all pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the case. None had prior convictions. The state had recommended different sentences for each defendant, based on the degree of culpability. But all four were sentenced to 10 1/2 years -- the low end of the sentencing range -- with Wilson receiving an additional two years for the deadly weapon charge.
"Imposing a sentence in a case like this is an awesome task," Thorpe said yesterday.
"Nobody can bring Joshua back. And nobody but God can help the family."
Defense lawyers yesterday portrayed the four youths as teenagers who had made a mistake, with no intent to injure anyone. Though they abandoned Lorbiecki at the field, they had no idea how badly he was hurt, the lawyers said.
Friends and relatives of the defendants painted a picture of good kids, trying to make it in a world of drugs and violence. "No family is untouched with the madness that runs wild in our society," said Emmanuel and Fernando's father, Robert Wilson.
All four youths apologized to the Lorbiecki family yesterday for the loss of Joshua, who, though he had some run-ins with the law, was a well-liked youth who loved sports, hip-hop music, computer games and the outdoors.
The 15-year-old, who had been a bat boy for the Mariners, was planning on trying out for the football team.
"What we did that day was wrong," said Matthew Teague. "We never thought it would be this serious."
Emmanuel Wilson apologized to the Lorbiecki family -- and to his own girlfriend, who brought their new baby daughter to court.
"I'm sorry I won't be there to raise my daughter," he said.
Joshua Lorbiecki's aunt, Tina Smith, surprised the defendants and most everyone in the courtroom with a speech praising her "awesome nephew" and drawing on biblical citations.
Her God, she said is a God of forgiveness.
Then she turned to face the defendants, her face screwed up in pain, tears running down it, and told them:
"I, for one, forgive you."
I agree that grudges are harmful for the people who hold them. The problem is that forgivness isn't Tinas to give. Especially not in public like she did.
1. $400. is a lot of cash for a 15-year old to come up with. Where did he get that much money?
2. What were those "run-ins with the law" the deceased had?
3. In the scumbag world of liberal judges and a lame justice system, what does ten-and-a-half years translate to? Out in 5 years?
4. This kid was brutally ambushed in about as cold a way as I can imagine. It doesn't get any more personal than beating somebody to death with a baseball bat. This was a premeditated attack with aggravating circumstances and it resulted in the death of a person. If this isn't murder one, what on God's green earth is?
5. In my opinion, the father made a big mistake storming out of the courtroom like he did. He should have remained, and then he should have told the reporters that justice was done and that he thought the whole thing was handled fairly. He should have expressed thanks to the judge and to the police and to the district attorney's office, and he should have expressed relief that the whole thing was over and now he and his family could get on with their lives. Etc.
And then he should have very quietly and very carefully begun planning. Five years is perfect.
This angry father would have stormed into the courtroom.
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