From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: (check out the bolded excerpt near the end)(thanks to Oral Roberts for pointing this out on another thread)
jsonline.com
Boys charged as adults in beating
10-year-old kept in Children's Court; other juveniles expected to be charged
By JESSICA MCBRIDE, JAMAAL ABDUL-ALIM and TOM HELD
theld@journalsentinel.com
Last Updated: Oct. 3, 2002
Prosecutors charged seven youths as adults with first-degree reckless homicide Thursday in a savage mob beating, but they spared the youngest, a 10-year-old, from adult court and a possible 40-year prison term.
At least three more teens in custody are expected to be charged next week, and police are looking for more suspects.
"The message is sorrow," said District Attorney E. Michael McCann. "Sorrow for everybody. For the deceased, for the boys, for the community. . . . These young men have written off their futures for decades."
Meanwhile, community outrage continued building over the slaying of Charlie Young Jr., 36, who police say was chased down by a mob of boys in the 2000 block of N. 21st Lane on Sunday night, and struck - one witness said 50 to 60 times - with mops, tree limbs and other makeshift weapons. He was left brain-dead and died Tuesday after life support was disconnected.
Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. said Thursday that he had directed squads to join Milwaukee police in patrolling the north side neighborhood where the slaying occurred, and others announced meetings and rallies to address how to end the violence.
House fire investigated
Also Thursday, police were investigating a Wednesday night fire that destroyed a house where a suspect in the fatal beating had lived. Authorities said they suspect arson at the house in the 2100 block of W. Brown St. Some of the boys charged Thursday first encountered Young on Sunday at a house next door to where the fire occurred, according to court records.
In contrast to court hearings earlier in the week, at least one parent of each boy was in court for the initial hearings Thursday. Several parents cried and gasped as Circuit Judge Timothy Witkowiak imposed bail for those charged as adults.
Witkowiak also reminded them that they could be sent to prison for 40 years, followed by 20 years of extended supervision in the community. He and Circuit Judge Christopher Foley imposed bail amounts ranging from $50,000 to $100,000.
Three of those charged as adults Thursday - Arteias Shanks, Kenny Mays and Don Dixon - are only 13, a fact likely to thrust the case further into the national debate about when someone has the mental capacity to be held responsible for criminal activity.
Also charged as adults were Marlin Dixon, 14, Montrean Jordan, 15, Lee Mays, 16, and Devin Beamon, 16. Kenny and Lee Mays are brothers, as are Marlin and Don Dixon.
Boys led into court
Witkowiak and Foley ordered all of the youths, including the 10-year-old, to be held in juvenile detention. The boys were led into court by bailiffs and settled into chairs next to attorneys. Several looked small for their ages, and they all slumped, looking subdued and somewhat bewildered.
But as Kenny Mays - who looks younger and smaller than the 10-year-old boy - left the courtroom, he yanked his arm away from a deputy and shouted something like "Let me go!" A relative told him to "stop playing."
Several defense attorneys argued the youths should be released to their parents and lambasted Milwaukee police for taking statements from the boys without their parents or attorneys present.
"There's little doubt I could get my client to sign a statement saying he's the president of the United States," said Michael Backes, representing Lee Mays.
Backes said his client suffers from lead poisoning and mental health issues.
But in setting bail for five of the boys, Witkowiak repeatedly referred to the violence of the attack.
"This is a terrible offense that's alleged," Witkowiak said, during the hearing for Shanks. "I still have to look at the extreme violence. A life was lost."
In setting $100,000 bail for Beamon, 16, he said, "The nature of the crime is heinous."
Attorney Craig Mastantuono, arguing that the 10-year-old was not a risk to flee, said: "He can't drive a car." Mastantuono spent several minutes explaining the petition to his diminutive client, who told the judge with Mastantuono's prompting, "I don't want to talk to no police officers."
Mastantuono said he was pleased the boy would not face adult charges. "I have a 10-year-old client," Mastantuono said. "He should be in juvenile court."
Mastantuono said the boy was reacting to a situation as any normal 10-year-old would.
"He's scared, he's lonely, he's upset, and he wants his mom," the lawyer said. "His focus can be short. He goes from football to when his mom is coming. I wouldn't say he's got a full appreciation of circumstances at this point."
'Moral reasoning' considered
McCann said the decision to charge the boy with second-degree reckless homicide came down to the boy's age and ability to demonstrate "moral reasoning." McCann said he relied on research he had conducted earlier in the case of 13-year-old Latasha Armstead, a Milwaukee girl who in 1999 became the youngest child ever sentenced as an adult for homicide in Wisconsin.
"I can find nothing in that literature that says a 10-year-old is capable of adult moral reasoning," McCann said.
The decision also rested on whether the boy was capable of showing "utter disregard for human life," an element of first-degree reckless homicide.
Charging a teenager younger than 14 as an adult with homicide has become more common as states toughened juvenile laws in the 1990s. But it's still rare.
Before 1899, all children were prosecuted as if they were adults. But reformers who documented abuse of young boys in adult prisons helped form the first Children's Court in Chicago that year.
In Wisconsin, only a few youths younger than 14 have ever been tried as adults with murder; in 1996, a sweeping revision of the juvenile code mandated that youths accused of first-degree reckless homicide be automatically charged as adults.
However, those 14 and younger can be waived back into juvenile court. The older youths can not.
If the four younger than 15 charged Thursday are returned to Children's Court, they could face up to three years in juvenile prison and two additional years in the community under supervision.
Vigorous defense planned
Scott Anderson, Beamon's attorney, said he planned a vigorous defense. He referred to the $100,000 bail as a "show bail." Anderson and another attorney also indicated they might seek to have the cases tried outside the county because of heavy publicity.
Steve Drizin, a lawyer at Northwestern University's Children and Family Justice Center in Chicago, said that research shows that children younger than 15 may not be competent to stand trial in an adult court.
"They may not be able to fully understand the nature of the proceedings against them, the consequences of their convictions or be able to assist their attorneys in their own defense," he said.
Others disagree, including David Gorcyca, the Michigan prosecutor who convicted one of the youngest adult homicide defendants ever in the nation, 11-year-old Nathaniel Abraham. Abraham intentionally shot a random passer-by, said Gorcyca, who said he feels sometimes the circumstances warrant such charges. Abraham's lengthy assaultive record convinced him there was "no possibility for rehabilitation."
Father defend sons
The 10-year-old entered the courtroom Thursday as cameras clicked away. Before the hearing, his father said police bungled the investigation of Young's death and defended both his sons. An older brother of the 10-year-old also has been arrested but not yet charged.
"They got this thing all fouled up," the boy's father said. "They're making a butcher out of a 10-year-old boy and a group of boys. . . . Kids are going to be kids."
But Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney Joy Hammond told the court of the 10-year-old: "I think these actions make him a danger to the community. He's also a danger to himself. He's running the streets with kids who'll do unspeakable acts."
Hammond said the boy's role in the fatal beating was "not minimal." She said the boy hit Young over the head four or five times.
Other relatives also defended the youths.
But the criminal complaints prosecutors filed to back up the charges paint a chilling picture of group violence.
Among other details, the complaints reveal that an eyewitness described to police seeing Young confront the youths with a knife a couple of hours after he exchanged words with the group. That prompted the boys to give chase, the witness said.
The witness did not attempt to intervene in the attack he watched unfold; rather, after watching the beating, he walked to the nearby home of a relative.
Then, hearing a thumping sound outside, he said he realized Marlin Dixon was still hitting Young "with all his might at least nine times in the head" with a 2x4, the complaints say.
According to police, much of the beating took place after Young was already unconscious.
Mary Zahn and Linda Spice of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report. |
