FIFTH GRADERS CHARGED WITH MURDER CONSPIRACY ARE 'DANGER TO OTHERS'

A Washington prosecutor who is charging two boys aged 10 and 11 with conspiracy to commit murder concedes that it is "very rare" to try someone so young, but said the felony charges were necessary because the boys' crime was premeditated and experts determined they were "a danger to others."
The fifth graders from Colville, Wash., were arrested in February and Steven County Superior Court judge ruled recently that the boys are competent to stand trial on murder conspiracy charges, witness tampering and juvenile possession of a firearm.
The boys allegedly plotted to shoot and stab a girl in their class because she was "really annoying," according to court documents.
Police noted in their report that the boys "did not display any emotion or remorse during the interview." When asked if he knew what he was going to do was dangerous, wrong and unlawful, the 10-year-old replied, "Yes, I just want her dead."
The boys said there were other students they were targeting, even providing officials with six additional names.
"I was a defense attorney for about 14 years in North Carolina and have been a prosecutor for about 12 years here in the state of Washington and I'm not aware of other cases like this," Stevens County Prosecutor Tim Rasmussen told ABCNews.com. "I don't know that it's absolutely unique, but it's certainly very rare."
Rasmussen also has no qualms about the prosecution.
Referring to psychologists who examined the boys, Rasmussen said, "Both of these professionals believed that the boys presented a danger to other people and that was an important feature for the judge's decision."
The judge found that both boys had capacity to understand right from wrong and cleared the way for juvenile court. They remain in custody with a bond of $100,000 for each boy.
"We are very thankful that nobody was harmed," Rasmussen said. "But for the courage of a fourth grader to tell a teacher that he had seen a knife, this plot would have been carried out."
"As to why children do this, I wish I knew. It is very troubling. It's very scary," he said. "I don't have an explanation and the explanation that the boys gave for why they had planned to do this is entirely inadequate."
Defense attorneys Dee Hokom and Don Richter did not respond to requests for comment.
On Feb. 7, a Colville police officer responded to Colville Elementary School where a fourth grader had alerted a school employee that another student had a knife.
School officials searched the backpacks of the student and his friend who was with him and they found a knife, an ammunition clip and a "functioning" .45 caliber Remington 1911 semi-automatic handgun in 10-year-old's bag, according to court documents.
When a staff member asked the boy why he brought a gun to school, the said that he and his friend were going to "get" a female student identified as "S.L.T." in court documents. When the staffer asked what he meant, he said they "were going to get S.L.T. away from the school and do her in."
The 11-year-old stated that he was going to be the "knifer" and his friend was going to be the "shooter." A third friend was aware of the plot, but they planned to give him $80 to keep it a secret.
The 11-year-old told the administrator that they were planning on killing the girl "because she was really annoying," according to court documents.
"[The 11-year-old] stated that he had been friends with her [S.L.T.] for several months but that he hated her now," the filing said. "He also indicated that S.L.T. had recently become rude and would pick on him."
The younger boy said that he had been in a short "dating relationship" with the girl they were targeting, but would not go into any details, according to the court filing.
The younger boy told police that the had taken the gun from his older brother's room and that his brother had taken it from their dead grandfather's home a few months before.
While the boys were waiting to be taken to a juvenile detention center, the older boy allegedly said to the younger, "If I find out who told them about our weapons I'm going to kill them. I don't care, when I get out of jail I'm going to come back and kill them."
The boys' names are not being used because of their young ages.

Why Fifth Graders Were Charged With Murder Conspiracy

In the state of Washington, a child under the age of 8 is not capable of being charged with a crime because they don't have the capacity to comprehend things and have criminal intent. From ages 8 to 11, that presumption of no capacity exists but can be overcome if the state can provide evidence that proves otherwise.
In this case, the court looked at whether the boys understood the consequences of the act and determined they understood the consequences of what they planned and tried to keep it secret.
If convicted, the boys face a maximum guideline sentence time of about two-and-a-half years, Rasmussen said. However, if the judge finds that the guideline sentence is unjust he can potentially decrease or increase it. Confinement until the age of 21 is the maximum

HENRY OKAH BAGS 24-YEARS IMPRISONMENT FOR INDEPENDENCE DAY BOMBING

Nigerian Henry Okah has been jailed for 24 years by the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg earlier on  Tuesday.

"Effectively, the accused [Okah] is therefore sentenced to 24 years imprisonment," Judge Neels Claassen said as he handed down sentence.

On 21 January, Okah was found guilty on 13 counts of terrorism, including engaging in terrorist activities, conspiracy to engage in terrorist activities, and delivering, placing, and detonating an explosive device.

The charges related to two car bombs in Abuja, Nigeria, in which 12 people were killed and 36 injured on 1 October 2010, the anniversary of the country's independence.

The second bombing took place in Warri on 15 March 2010 at a post amnesty dialogue meeting. One person was killed and 11 seriously injured.

In both bombings, two car bombs went off minutes apart in both places. The cars were parked in close proximity to each other.

Claassen sentenced Okah to 12 years imprisonment for each of the bombings and 13 years for the threats made to the South African government after his arrest in October 2010.

The 13 years would run concurrently with the 24 years.

In January, during judgment Claassen said the State had proved Okah's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and his failure to testify meant the evidence against him remained uncontested.

Okah has denied any involvement, claiming the charges against him were politically motivated.

 

Ex-Cop Found Guilty Of Savagely Murdering 1-Year-Old Daughter “He Beat The Tar Out That Baby”

A former Jackson police detective is likely to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Via ClarionLedger reports:

After an emotional trial that lasted nearly two weeks, a jury early Thursday evening found Natyyo Gray guilty of capital murder in the death of his 1-year-old daughter Zoe.
“This was certainly a horrible, horrible thing,” Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith said after the verdict was issued. “It’s kind of hard to describe how this could have possibly been at the hands of the father.”

Prosecutors delivered their closing arguments with an image of a smiling, healthy Zoe shown on the projector as they spoke, a stark contrast from the gruesome images they showed of Zoe Brown’s mangled body earlier in the trial.
At the time of her death, Zoe had sustained bruises to her forehead, back and pelvis, along with extensive abdominal bruising and a large hematoma on the top of her head. She also had a lacerated liver and pancreas and was bleeding from her anus. An autopsy determined she bled to death after being beaten.
In his closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Jamie McBride repeatedly asked jurors to put “the animal” who hurt her behind bars.
“He beat the tar out of that little baby,” McBride said grimly.

But his attorney has pledged to appeal the ruling.

“It will definitely be appealed. We feel there are issues of the law that need to be addressed by the Mississippi Supreme Court in this matter.”
He would not elaborate on what those issues were, adding only that there were “numerous” things that the high court should look at.
While waiting for jurors to return a verdict, Gray sat quietly, his hands folded in his lap.
Later, as bailiffs escorted him from the courtroom, Gray turned calmly to someone in the audience and said, “I’ll see you.”

He should be put down immediately. His incarceration will cost taxpayers thousands of dollars depending on how long he lives. 20 years will cost close to a million dollars. One shot would be perfect. What do prisoners think of baby killers, especially ex cops?

Read more at http://bossip.com/733630/justice-ex-cop-found-guilty-of-savagely-murdering-1-year-old-daughter-he-beat-the-tar-out-that-baby

14-Year-Old Girl Ordered Boyfriend To Stab Schoolboy To Death

A 14-year-old girl "set up" a schoolboy to be stabbed to death by her boyfriend after a row over football.She called her 16-year-old boyfriend to a housing estate in Brixton, south London, where he killed keen footballer Junior Nkwelle, 15. The court heard Junior and his friends had been playing football on a grassy area when an argument broke out.

Murdered: Junior Nkwelle was stabbed to death by a 16-year-old boy, called to a housing estate in Brixton, by his 14-year-old girlfriend, a court has heard. Floral tributes were left near the scene where Junior died

The youngster was stabbed in the chest after the older boy arrived on a bus and started fighting with him. He died on the makeshift pitch on the Loughborough estate in September, last year, after the knife cut his heart and a lung. The girl and her boyfriend, who is now 17, deny murder. They cannot be named for legal reasons.

Prosecutor Jonathan Turner told jurors it was likely Junior and his alleged killer did not know each other and there was no quarrel between them. Mr Turner said: "He (the defendant) had been telephoned by his girlfriend and told to come to the estate to teach Junior Nkwelle a lesson. There had been an argument between her friends and Junior’s friends whilst the football was going on. She thought that Junior had insulted her or been less than respectful to her. She was very angry and determined that he should be punished - indeed stabbed - to put things right. The defendant was encouraged and requested by her to come and do this. Indeed, to use  an old-fashioned phrase, was "set up" by her to do this."

Mr Turner said the children had been arguing earlier in the evening. It might have been because the boys were thought to be playing too close to flats or that the girls were walking over the pitch. "Whatever it was, it seems to have been stupid and trivial and completely unnecessary," he added. The trial continues.

School Suggested 13-Year-Old Daughter Get Breast Reduction Surgery To Fight Bullying

 

A Moline Acres, Mo., mother is furious with her daughter's school for allegedly suggesting that her sixth grader get a breast reduction to avoid chronic bullying. Tammie Jackson tells KTVI that her 13-year-old daughter Gabrielle has been harassed by peers since last semester, particularly for her large breasts. When she called the Riverview Gardens School District to complain about the problem, the woman on the other end said the girl could be transferred to another school from Central Middle School, or go under the knife. "It makes me feel like now you are telling me it's my fault, it's God's fault the way he made her." Jackson told KTVI. "[The school should] talk with the kids, let them know, you know, people's bodies are changing, everybody's body is different but God made us all great." 

 Riverview Gardens Superintendent Clive Coleman tells the station that officials are investigating the incident, though he suspects it was "a product of miscommunication, interpretation of information." Meanwhile, students are being counseled on ways to resolve the bullying problem. Avoiding school bullying through surgery is on the rise among American teens. In 2010 alone, nearly 219,000 cosmetic surgeries were performed on teens aged 13 to 19. And among procedures performed on teens, otoplasty is the most popular -- more than 11,000 surgeries were performed in 2011. Nadia Ilse, a 14-year-old girl from Georgia, made headlines last fall when she accepted a gift from the Little Baby Face Foundation, a charity that provides free corrective surgery to children with deformities. The foundation covered the estimated $40,000 cost of surgery for Nadia's otoplasty -- pinning back her ears, rhinoplasty -- reducing the size of her nose -- and mentoplasty -- altering her chin. Vivian Diller, a psychologist and author of "Face It," questions whether plastic surgery is the right thing to do in bullying situations. She wrote last July: A solution to bullying that involves surgical procedures (which have their own set of physical risks that few talk about) is a terrible message to give both bullies and their victims. Do we really think that changing physical features undoes the emotional damage created by being teased? And aren't we validating the very message behind bullies' actions, that diversity and variation is bad? We need to be encouraging young people to admire and embrace differences -- and that starts from an early age. Most states have laws that require schools to adopt bullying policies, and efforts to combat school bullying have increased over the last decade, according to a report released in 2011 by the U.S. Department of Education. Between 1999 and 2010, more than 120 bills were adopted by state legislatures to introduce or amend legislation that address bullying, harassment or similar behavior in schools. By the time of the Education Department study's conclusion, there were 46 states with enacted anti-bullying laws, 36 with regulations that work against cyberbullying and 13 that give schools the authority to monitor and address bullying behavior even when it occurs off school grounds.