Attorney John Nicholas, representing the state, argued that the performance of White's trial attorney was secondary to the weight of testimony by school officials, police officers and others.
White is one of the youngest offenders ever to be certified as an adult in Missouri. Three St. Louis girls, two 14-year-olds and one 13-year-old, were tried as adults in a 2004-05 murder case.
White's parents have said that they have been unable to find another school shooting case in which a juvenile was certified to stand trial as an adult when it didn't involve any deaths or injuries.
White has been in jail since the October 2006 incident in which he brought an assault weapon into Memorial Middle School, where he was a 13-year-old seventh grader at the time, fired into the ceiling, then pointed the weapon at Principal Steve Gilbreth, and allegedly tried to fire several times but the weapon jammed.
White is charged with two counts of assault and single counts of armed criminal action, unlawful use of a weapon, and attempted escape.
1 comment:
Only problem with that theory is that when the defense attorney doesn't present a case I imagine it is much more likely that he is sentenced as an adult then it would otherwise be. You can say that the actions of Thomas caused him to get certified all you want, but if that is the case you shouldn't mind it going back down to juve court for the time being and let the defense present the facts in Thomas' favor this time around when you try to get him recertified as an adult. Why then would the prosecution be scared?
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