Two stories I've read today in the Detroit Free Press. I figure it would make for a good topic of discussion, considering the crimes committed, the verdicts handed out and the two kids involved.
1) Warren teen gets prison in fatal beating over marijuana
http://freep.com/article/20100310/N...n-gets-prison-in-fatal-beating-over-marijuana
A Warren teenager who beat a man to death over a small baggie of marijuana was sentenced today to 15 to 30 years in prison.
A sobbing Kevin Antone, 18, told Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Edward Servitto Jr. that an apology wasn’t enough to be forgiven for crushing the skull of 46-year-old Michael McCarthy with a basketball-sized chunk of concrete in Warren in July 2009.
“To say I’m sorry or remorseful is inadequate,” Antone said while his family members and friends wept in the courtroom. “I ask God for forgiveness every day.”
Antone, who was convicted of second-degree murder and armed robbery, was the last of four teens to be sentenced in a beating that was precipitated by a $10 bag of pot that they say McCarthy stole from them.
“This case represents gang mentality in the most outlandish form,” Assistant Prosecutor Steven Kaplan said. “It was four perpetrators against one, and none of these teenagers did anything to stop it.”
While Servitto acknowledged that the teens made a spontaneous decision, the outcome, he said, was murder.
“It was a moment in time that everyone would want to take back,” the judge said. “In that split second, a man died.”
Antone’s friends previously received varying sentences depending on their role in the attack. Brandon Ebel, 16, was sentenced to 13 years. Thomas Post, 18, got 18 months of probation after pleading guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for testifying against Ebel. And Jacob Androsuk, 18, received three years in a special youth prison.
2) Teen in Rib Rack case acquitted
http://freep.com/article/20100310/NEWS03/3100354/1322/Teen-in-Rib-Rack-case-acquitted
Jurors in the Rib Rack murder trial apparently disbelieved the prosecution's star witness when they acquitted 17-year-old Jerome Hamilton on Tuesday in the shooting death of restaurant manager Catherine Blain in October 2008.
"They were bothered by Brandon Davis' testimony and questioned his credibility, because he told so many stories," said defense attorney Mark Kriger, who questioned jurors about their verdict for several minutes after the trial was over.
Davis, 21, testified for the prosecution, identifying Hamilton as the gunman in exchange for a deal that let him plead guilty to conspiracy to commit armed robbery. Davis could be sentenced to a minimum of 11 to 18 years later this month. In his testimony before Oakland County Circuit Judge Leo Bowman, Davis admitted that he gave police several different accounts of what happened that night.
Prosecutors contended during the trial that Davis, Hamilton and a third man, Deandre Sturges, staked out the restaurant to rob Blain, and that Hamilton shot her as she tried to drive away. Sturges, the get-away car driver, is serving a life sentence after he was convicted by a jury late last year.
Jurors returned their verdict after a weeklong trial and about five hours of deliberation over two days.
When the verdict was announced, Hamilton shouted, "Thank you!"
Hamilton, who has been in custody for more than a year, was released Tuesday afternoon. It was his third trial in the Rib Rack murder case. Two previous juries were unable to reach a unanimous verdict, and mistrials were declared.
Hamilton was charged with first-degree murder, and could have been sentenced to life without parole if he had been convicted. Jurors had the option of finding him guilty of second-degree murder, a conviction that carries a sentence of any number of years up to life.
Blain's family, who sat through all three trials, was fighting tears after the verdict. Family spokesman Rick Blain, Catherine's father-in-law, stood outside the courtroom, shaking his head, and saying, "No, no."
After the verdict clearing her son, his mother, Raina Harris, said: "I want the Blains to know that we are praying for them, because of their terrible loss."
Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper said Tuesday afternoon that "we are especially disappointed for the family of the victim. We have two of the three culprits in this matter, but you really can't place a limit on the amount of time we are willing to expend when someone's life has been taken."
Jurors in the case were not allowed to hear what prosecutors considered key evidence, including testimony from Hamilton's former girlfriend that she saw him with a handgun four days before the shooting.
They did not get to see a social networking site that showed Hamilton with handguns, and ammunition and a statement that he "keeps my nine tight," an apparent reference to a 9 mm handgun. Nor were they allowed to hear that a man picked Hamilton out of a police photo lineup as a young man he encountered in a neighborhood earlier that evening where there were attempted robberies.
The judge ruled all of that evidence inadmissible.
----------------------------------------------------
The fucked up part is in case No. 2, the guy who was acquitted is without a doubt the man who shot this woman in a failed attempt to rob her. It was premeditated. Both his partners are doing multiple years over the shit, and the boy who squeezed the trigger is walking free. In case No. 1, although I feel the sentence is about right, I don't feel this kid intended on killing this dude. Obviously he wasn't concerned for the man's physical well-being, but even when he dropped the concrete on him I don't feel he intended to murder the guy. Plus he seems remorseful over the fact he killed somebody. The boy in case No. 2 had no problem shooting an unarmed woman over a few thousand dollars though, and with all the evidence in the previous two trials its obvious the dude has that mentality where he'll shoot people to try and prove he's hard. I also thought it was interesting because the white kid gets 15-30 for a crime that just sort of escalated and happened, while the black kid is being acquitted for something that was premeditated (at least the armed robbery, nobody knows if he decided to kill her before hand or during the robbery) and he's not shown the slightest bit of remorse over taking another person's life. Its just sort of ironic how a lot of people feel justice favors an individual based on the color of that individual's skin, and you have these two cases here that do not coincide with the generally held belief. Whats everybody think about these cases/verdicts?
1) Warren teen gets prison in fatal beating over marijuana
http://freep.com/article/20100310/N...n-gets-prison-in-fatal-beating-over-marijuana
A Warren teenager who beat a man to death over a small baggie of marijuana was sentenced today to 15 to 30 years in prison.
A sobbing Kevin Antone, 18, told Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Edward Servitto Jr. that an apology wasn’t enough to be forgiven for crushing the skull of 46-year-old Michael McCarthy with a basketball-sized chunk of concrete in Warren in July 2009.
“To say I’m sorry or remorseful is inadequate,” Antone said while his family members and friends wept in the courtroom. “I ask God for forgiveness every day.”
Antone, who was convicted of second-degree murder and armed robbery, was the last of four teens to be sentenced in a beating that was precipitated by a $10 bag of pot that they say McCarthy stole from them.
“This case represents gang mentality in the most outlandish form,” Assistant Prosecutor Steven Kaplan said. “It was four perpetrators against one, and none of these teenagers did anything to stop it.”
While Servitto acknowledged that the teens made a spontaneous decision, the outcome, he said, was murder.
“It was a moment in time that everyone would want to take back,” the judge said. “In that split second, a man died.”
Antone’s friends previously received varying sentences depending on their role in the attack. Brandon Ebel, 16, was sentenced to 13 years. Thomas Post, 18, got 18 months of probation after pleading guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for testifying against Ebel. And Jacob Androsuk, 18, received three years in a special youth prison.
2) Teen in Rib Rack case acquitted
http://freep.com/article/20100310/NEWS03/3100354/1322/Teen-in-Rib-Rack-case-acquitted
Jurors in the Rib Rack murder trial apparently disbelieved the prosecution's star witness when they acquitted 17-year-old Jerome Hamilton on Tuesday in the shooting death of restaurant manager Catherine Blain in October 2008.
"They were bothered by Brandon Davis' testimony and questioned his credibility, because he told so many stories," said defense attorney Mark Kriger, who questioned jurors about their verdict for several minutes after the trial was over.
Davis, 21, testified for the prosecution, identifying Hamilton as the gunman in exchange for a deal that let him plead guilty to conspiracy to commit armed robbery. Davis could be sentenced to a minimum of 11 to 18 years later this month. In his testimony before Oakland County Circuit Judge Leo Bowman, Davis admitted that he gave police several different accounts of what happened that night.
Prosecutors contended during the trial that Davis, Hamilton and a third man, Deandre Sturges, staked out the restaurant to rob Blain, and that Hamilton shot her as she tried to drive away. Sturges, the get-away car driver, is serving a life sentence after he was convicted by a jury late last year.
Jurors returned their verdict after a weeklong trial and about five hours of deliberation over two days.
When the verdict was announced, Hamilton shouted, "Thank you!"
Hamilton, who has been in custody for more than a year, was released Tuesday afternoon. It was his third trial in the Rib Rack murder case. Two previous juries were unable to reach a unanimous verdict, and mistrials were declared.
Hamilton was charged with first-degree murder, and could have been sentenced to life without parole if he had been convicted. Jurors had the option of finding him guilty of second-degree murder, a conviction that carries a sentence of any number of years up to life.
Blain's family, who sat through all three trials, was fighting tears after the verdict. Family spokesman Rick Blain, Catherine's father-in-law, stood outside the courtroom, shaking his head, and saying, "No, no."
After the verdict clearing her son, his mother, Raina Harris, said: "I want the Blains to know that we are praying for them, because of their terrible loss."
Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper said Tuesday afternoon that "we are especially disappointed for the family of the victim. We have two of the three culprits in this matter, but you really can't place a limit on the amount of time we are willing to expend when someone's life has been taken."
Jurors in the case were not allowed to hear what prosecutors considered key evidence, including testimony from Hamilton's former girlfriend that she saw him with a handgun four days before the shooting.
They did not get to see a social networking site that showed Hamilton with handguns, and ammunition and a statement that he "keeps my nine tight," an apparent reference to a 9 mm handgun. Nor were they allowed to hear that a man picked Hamilton out of a police photo lineup as a young man he encountered in a neighborhood earlier that evening where there were attempted robberies.
The judge ruled all of that evidence inadmissible.
----------------------------------------------------
The fucked up part is in case No. 2, the guy who was acquitted is without a doubt the man who shot this woman in a failed attempt to rob her. It was premeditated. Both his partners are doing multiple years over the shit, and the boy who squeezed the trigger is walking free. In case No. 1, although I feel the sentence is about right, I don't feel this kid intended on killing this dude. Obviously he wasn't concerned for the man's physical well-being, but even when he dropped the concrete on him I don't feel he intended to murder the guy. Plus he seems remorseful over the fact he killed somebody. The boy in case No. 2 had no problem shooting an unarmed woman over a few thousand dollars though, and with all the evidence in the previous two trials its obvious the dude has that mentality where he'll shoot people to try and prove he's hard. I also thought it was interesting because the white kid gets 15-30 for a crime that just sort of escalated and happened, while the black kid is being acquitted for something that was premeditated (at least the armed robbery, nobody knows if he decided to kill her before hand or during the robbery) and he's not shown the slightest bit of remorse over taking another person's life. Its just sort of ironic how a lot of people feel justice favors an individual based on the color of that individual's skin, and you have these two cases here that do not coincide with the generally held belief. Whats everybody think about these cases/verdicts?
