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.
What a complete waste of life all the way around.
AY,
His father’s words:
“It is heartless and to try to understand it is a short way to insanity,” he told Australia’s Sky News.”
(One of these days we’ll understand, much too late, the root of these sorts of problems. Until then… I’d be wasting my breath.)
Why are they allowed to have guns. They used to use knives.
I`d be willing to execute them all for $1.
They were bored, AY! So, some well meaning white folk will soon be proposing more after school basketball programs. That’s been the remedy since the 70’s.
I don’t understand them….
“Gun homicides and gun ownership listed by country”
http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/jul/22/gun-homicides-ownership-world-list
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23771858
“Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper reported that roses and a baseball were placed on the home plate where Lane played baseball as a boy in a suburb of the city.
It was accompanied by a message that read: “A wonderful young man taken too soon. Why?”
The victim’s father, Peter Lane, said there was no explanation for his son’s death.
“It is heartless and to try to understand it is a short way to insanity,” he told Australia’s Sky News.”
My heart goes out to the family.
A Study in Contrasts: Duncan, OK
Birthplace of Ron Howard, Jeanne Kirkpatrick and Halliburton.
And now…
At the event of their respective executions the guy who pulls the switch will yawn.
Disgusting.
Actually doglover, you say it ‘hasn’t helped’…..By what standard? Complete end of violence? That’s not a rational standard. Violence humanity wide has enjoyed a stead per capital species wide decline in violence over the last several hundred years, despite technological progress in warfare. The US homicide rate has declined to the lowest levels in nearly a century.
So, objectively, something we are doing is working…..And incidents like this illustrate the problems with anecdotes when examining a problem….. anecdotal Examples of individual phenomenon do not work as well at statistics at illustrating the extent of a problem.
It is time we deal w/ the profiling of Australians.
Two 13 year old boys who committed a gruesome murder in WI were recently tried and convicted as adults. Handed life sentences.
So I assume we will have white and Australian leaders demanding that the law be changed to execute these black brutes killing an innocent white youth….
Come on Martins, get on TV and demand justice for this obviously racially motivated murder!
WOW my caveman emotions came to surface last night when I first heard this story . Waiting to comment and or act is a valuable discretionary tool of reason. …… I heard in the media many comments spouted from cave men (women) mouths. Justice needs to be served, Justice needs to be blind to the outrage (understandably) being spewed. But justice must be carried out.
I must admit this story cries out for the death penalty. The very thought makes me uncomfortable and saddened.
Sicko.
There is a reason why early people managers, i.e. those who developed religions, listed “thou shalt not kill” as the first commandment. They recognized the dilemma that some men enjoyed the thrill of killing, while at the same time everyone wanted to be safe from being killed. Obviously the commandment and religion overall has been ineffective in constraining the lust to kill. Glorifying military killers hasn’t helped any nor has labeling people as “bad guys” with the corresponding implied social approval of killing “bad guys”. Anyone can be called a “bad guy”. It’s easy to lock up these three for the rest of their lives. It’s much less easy to catch and lock up those who are paid with taxpayer dollars to kill defenseless victims.
My partner and I have had several cases in the last couple of years where witnesses have helped us with their own vapid facebook posts. It seems a lot of young people can’t fathom the idea that anyone over 20 knows the internet exists. These guys are going to wish they were board when they reach the big house.