Thrill Kill: Three Oklahoma Teens Arrested In Murder Of Australian Student

Oklahoma is reeling this week from a senseless killing of an Australian student, Christopher Lane, 22, by three teenagers who allegedly shot him simply because they were bored and wanted to kill someone for the “fun of it.” In Oklahoma for the “fun of it” with first-degree murder.

Lane was visiting the U.S. on a baseball scholarship at East Central University. He was simply jogging home from a visit to his girl friend when police say Chancey Allen Luna, 16, Michael Jones, 17, and James Francis Edwards Jr., 15, arbitrarily selected him for slaughter. Luna and Edwards are charged with the murder but cannot be subject to the death penalty due to their age. Jones is accused of driving the car and being an accessory.

Luna is accused of pulling the trigger on the .22 caliber revolver and shooting Lane once in the back. What is interesting is that, in his appearance in court, Jones insisted that “he pulled the trigger.” The judge ordered him to remain quiet. That is still an admission against interest that could be used against him.

The car was captured on a video security system for a nearby business. The evidence will also reportedly include a Facebook page on which one of the killers stated “Bang. Two drops in two hours.”

These teenagers are big beneficiaries of the 2005 ruling of the Supreme Court in Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005), where the Court held that it was unconstitutional to apply the death penalty to crimes committed by person under the age of 18. While the three will likely be tried as adults, they would therefore escape the death penalty if convicted.

Police have stated that the at least one of the boys have incriminated the three in the murder. One of the boys is quoted as saying that they were just bored and then Lane walked by.