Standing trial: Pre-teen Colville Schoolboys ‘plotted to rape and murder’ female classmate
ONE boy aged 10 and his 11-year-old friend are alleged to have plotted to rape and murder a classmate at Fort Colville Elementary School, Washington. The boys made notes. They had formed seven steps to murder. So claims Stevens County Prosecutor Tim Rasmussen.
The boys will stand trial in a Washington state juvenile court.
And that’s unusual. Because juvenile court in that state is usually reserved for people aged 12 and 18. Although, Washington’s court system states:
A juvenile is any individual who is under the chronological age of eighteen years and has not been previously transferred to adult court.
The Washington State rules are clear:
Children under the age of eight years are incapable of committing crime. Children of eight and under twelve years of age are presumed to be incapable of committing crime, but this presumption may be removed by proof that they have sufficient capacity to understand the act or neglect, and to know that it was wrong. Whenever in legal proceedings it becomes necessary to determine the age of a child, he or she may be produced for inspection, to enable the court or jury to determine the age thereby; and the court may also direct his or her examination by one or more physicians, whose opinion shall be competent evidence upon the question of his or her age.
This has been deemed to be a special case.
A judge found the 10 and 11-year-old, who appeared in Stevens County Superior Court Friday, both competent to stand trial.
The boys are old enough to be tried. But too young to be named.
It was discovered in court that one of the boys had already been suspended from school for bringing liquor on campus and stealing musical instruments. While the aim of juvenile cases is usually to help young people recognize their faults and correct them, the police were surprised at how dangerous these boys truly are.
During investigation to test the boys’ mental capacity to commit a crime, a police officer asked one boy if he knew that murder was wrong and unlawful.
“Yes,” the boy replied, “I wanted her dead.”
In addition, a psychologist testified that one of the boys had told him that he wanted to rape the girl classmate in question, and explained that rape was having sex with someone when they didn’t want to. The boy added that murder was “the baddest crime that I know of.”
In defence:
The defense called the grandmother of one of the suspects to the stand. She told the court her grandson liked to pretend that he was in the “Zelda” fantasy video game. She showed the courtroom “battle claws” made out of paper. Court documents say the suspects wrote about using those weapons in their alleged “plot to kill” letter.
But it wasn’t all paper claws. It is alleged that the boys boarded a school bus on February 7 armed a knife, a semi-automatic pistol and ammunition in a backpack.
The gun is said to have been in one of the boy’s older brother’s room. It had belonged to his grandfather.
The alleged plot was foiled because a student on the bus got wind of it and told the school. The boys are said to have threats against the witness. (They are accused of plotting to harm seven of their classmates.)
The boys have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, witness tampering and juvenile possession of a firearm.
Mr Rasmussen adds:
“There are very few prosecutions of a crime of this magnitude with boys of this age.”
A crime of what magnitude? Is what they allegedly planned to do the same as doing it?
Posted: 31st, March 2013 | In: Reviews Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
