HomeMy WebLinkAboutTeen to be tried as adult in South Carolina school shooting - Metro - 02/16/2018 - Metro - 02/16/20182/20/2018
News/Worl,d
Teen to be tried as adult in South Carolina school shooting
'Teein -to Ibe tiriiied as adult lin South Caiirollllina school l shooting
C:IIII....IC:::::: 1rialis Oct. 5, 2016 flillna photo dhow,,:, II:::)ale Il 114lll, dices sed as Supeirimain, inext to tlhae casket faqir his IlLairctlh eir,
Jacob II Ila:allll at. Oakdale IC::taalp:ktiist t:: Ih'nu.arclh'n oin Wedinesday, Oct... 5, 2016, in TovvrMilllle, S.C. A teeinager clhairged wlitlh
killing his father at. tlh eiirIh oirnea ain¢::1 a -a fiir,,,'4 raader on a :,chooll Ipllaygrou.airnd said he kissed Ihis bu.airniny IF::IIopaalpy aairad
three dogs goodbye d:af`teir slhnoo iiirng Ihis fathneir, and thein Iheaded to the s,>u;,Ihaaaol to rr:.s uurnaa wahoohi ag, accordiiirng to t.l[ne
boy's videotaped staateiruneint played in ca:au..urt Monday, Ip:elb. 12, 20'18. (Ken IRuliinaaird/T1he Ilirndr':;II::)eina'.eint IMail Via Ail,
By: Staff The Associated Press, IPublished oin 1Frii 1Felb 16 201
ANDERSON, S.C. — A boy who was 14 when he was charged in the shooting death of his father
at their home and a first -grader on a South Carolina elementary school playground will be tried
as an adult, a judge ruled Friday.
The decision from Family Court Judge Edgar Long means Jesse Osborne, now 15, could face
decades in prison if convicted of murder. If he had been tried as a juvenile, he could have been
kept behind bars only until his 21st birthday.
Prosecutors treated the hearing like a mini trial. They played an interview the teen gave to
investigators hours after the September 2016 shootings where he said he was angry at his father
before the shootings started. The principal of the school testified at the horror she felt when she
recognized Osborne as a former student.
And two psychologists testified that Osborne showed no remorse and was a danger to commit
more crimes if he were treated as a juvenile and released from jail after several years. One said
the teen enjoyed thinking about killing people.
http://www. metronews.ca/news/world/2018/02/ 16/teen-to-be-tried-as-adu It -i n-south-carolina-school-shooti ng. pri nt. html 1/2
2/20/2018
Teen to be tried as adult in South Carolina school shooting
Osborne said he loaded the wrong ammunition into his gun before going to Townville Elementary
School after killing his father, and the gun jammed after every shot. He said he felt like the gun
jamming was God's way of making sure more people weren't killed.
Along with the teen's father, 47 -year-old Jeffrey Osborne, Jesse Osborne is charged with killing
6 -year-old Jacob Hall at the school. The boy was shot in the leg and bled to death. A teacher
was wounded in the shoulder and another student was hurt, but both survived.
Osborne is also charged with three counts of attempted murder and five counts of possession of
a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.
Defence attorneys argued that Osborne wasn't old enough to be held responsible like an adult.
They asked questions about the teen's home life. Osborne said in his confession his father and
mother often had angry, drunken arguments and he locked himself in his room, petting his rabbit
or posting on social media.
Clinical psychologist Dr. Danielle Atkinson testified that Osborne could be rehabilitated, but there
is no idea how long that could take. Atkinson added that the teen says he is sorry for the killings,
but does not show physical signs of remorse and doesn't seem to grasp the seriousness of the
shootings.
Osborne told investigators he was being homeschooled after he brought a machete and hatchet
to his middle school. Prosecutors showed pictures of his room, full of electronics and several
video game systems with several versions of the shooting games like "Call of Duty." Investigators
testified that he searched the internet on topics like "youngest mass murderer" along with mass
shootings at an Orlando nightclub, Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut and
Columbine High School in Colorado.
One of the detectives asked Osborne hours after the shooting if his ultimate goal was to kill
himself.
"I was just done," Osborne replied. "And I was like, OK, I can't take all this hatred anymore. So I
was like, yeah, I might as well kill myself before I go to jail. But I'm glad I didn't, because now I
have a life — probably won't get a job — but I'll at least have a life."
Osborne didn't seem to grasp the severity of his crimes as he was being questioned. He once
suggested he should be released when he turns 18, asked if along with murder he might be
charged with driving his father's truck to the school while being too young to have a license and
asked several times if he would be held at the juvenile jail in Columbia where he spent a few
weeks after brining the weapons to the middle school.
"I really hope I get sent to Columbia, because there's an actual school there. That might actually
help me because I haven't studied at all — forever —just studied what I want to study," Osborne
said.
http://www. metronews.ca/news/world/2018/02/ 16/teen-to-be-tried-as-adu It -i n-south-carolina-school-shooti ng. pri nt. html 2/2