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  1. #1
    Titan Al Gorefiend's Avatar
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    12 year old MI boy charged as adult with murder, stabs 9 year old.

    KENTWOOD, Mich. - A 9-year-old boy who was repeatedly stabbed by a 12-year-old boy at a playground in western Michigan has died, police said Tuesday.

    Michael Conner Verkerke ran home and collapsed on the porch around 6 p.m. Monday after he was stabbed in the back with a kitchen knife at a mobile home park in Kentwood, near Grand Rapids, police say, according to CBS Detroit. He died after being rushed to a hospital.

    Witnesses told investigators that four children were playing when one of them pulled a knife and stabbed the boy. The motive in the attack was still being investigated, said Kentwood Police Chief Thomas Killen. It is unclear whether the children knew each other.

    Police said the older boy left the playground after the stabbing and called police from a nearby home to turn himself in.

    Glen Stacey, who lives nearby, told CBS Detroit that the older boy approached him after the attack and asked to use his phone.

    "I gave him my phone and I heard him tell the 911 operator, 'I just stabbed someone. Come and get me. I want to die.' It was just a sad situation," Stacey told the station, adding that 12-year-old was "very calm."

    Stacey reportedly said the boy mentioned that he was upset because nobody loved him and that he had taken multiple pills earlier in the day.

    When police arrived, Stacy said, they went looking to aid the stabbing victim, prompting the older boy to yell to police, "Hello. I'm right here. You're going the wrong way."

    Stacey said the older boy walked towards police with his hands out, as if he was ready to be placed in handcuffs.

    Police said the 12-year-old boy was evaluated at a hospital before being taken to the Kent County Juvenile Detention Center pending charges. Police didn't immediately release additional details about the child.

    An autopsy is planned by the Kent County Medical Examiner's Office. The Kent County prosecutor's office will determine whether the 12-year-old will be charged as a juvenile or an adult, Hillen said.
    According to other news sites, the 12 year old "turned himself in" to the police, realizing the seriousness of what he has done.



    KENTWOOD, Mich. (WZZM/AP) -- A 12 year-old boy is being charged as an adult with open murder in the deadly stabbing of a 9-year-old boy at a playground.

    Jamarion Lawhorn pleaded not guilty Tuesday afternoon in Kent County Family Court. WZZM is identifying the minor because he is being charged as an adult.

    Lawhorn's accused of repeatedly stabbing Michael Conner Verkerke in the back at the Pinebrook Village mobile home park Monday evening.

    Neighbors say Conner, as he was called, ran screaming to his home and collapsed bleeding on his porch. He died later at a hospital Monday evening.

    Lawhorn used a neighbor's phone to call 911 and turn himself in. He was arrested and taken to the Kent County Juvenile Detention Center.

    "We were sitting on our deck," said Barb Poelman. "We heard the kids run across the front ... screaming. He (Conner) ran with the kids that were with him."

    A little later Poelman, 60, said the boy's distraught mother lay on the grass outside the family's home in Kentwood.

    "She was screaming 'Where is the ambulance?' while her boy was laying on the porch bleeding," Poelman said. "The kids, I thought they were just playing."

    Witnesses told investigators that four children were playing when Lawhorn, for unknown reasons, pulled a knife and stabbed the boy.

    Glen Stacy, who lives nearby, described Lawhorn as "very calm."

    "The only time he raised his voice was when the police came," Stacy said.

    When police arrived at the mobile home park, they first went to aid the stabbing victim, but Lawhorn wanted the officers to pick him up and yelled, "Hello. I'm right here. You're going the wrong way," according to Stacy.

    The motive in the attack was still being investigated, said Kentwood Police Chief Thomas Hillen.

    Police said Lawhorn was evaluated at a hospital before being taken to the Kent County Juvenile Detention Center.

    An autopsy is planned by the Kent County Medical Examiner's Office.

    Family and friends are planning a candlelight vigil at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the playground to memorialize Conner.

    In court Tuesday, Lawhorn's defense attorney asked for a competency evaluation to make sure he understands the case against him.

    He will be tried in family court, and could be given an adult sentence, but will not receive a mandatory life sentence because of recent changes to the law.

    "He would be tried as an adult but in family court so he would have an adult conviction and probably a blended sentence, but he could not get life in prison pursuant to the recently passed rule about that," says Laura Clifton, Kent County assistant prosecuting attorney.

    If convicted, Lawhorn would be held in a juvenile facility until he's 21. Every three months, his behavior would be evaluated to determine whether he should be released or not. Once he's 21, he would either be released or sent to an adult prison.
    The victim


    Absolutely ridiculous. A tragedy happened, no doubt about it. Why ruin the life of another child and tear apart a second family? There is no retaliatory justice in this. Charging a 12 year old as an adult with murder?

  2. #2
    What is the point to treating minors as minors if we're just going to turn around and decide they were actually adults when they do something really bad?

    Bonus points for massive racial disparity.

  3. #3
    Turning himself in essentially satisfies the criteria for being charged as an adult.
    I don't agree with being charged as an adult, there are better outcomes..

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Wells View Post
    Bonus points for massive racial disparity.
    Hold on.. Just because he is black doesn't mean it was racial influenced.
    Your point is quite interesting considering you, yourself has the logical fallacies website in your signautre.

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by solvexx View Post
    Hold on.. Just because he is black doesn't mean it was racial influenced.
    I'm referring to the massive racial disparity in how children are tried as adults.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Consider Florida, which is the state that had most often assigned juveniles life without parole sentences in cases other than homicide. As of 2009, 84 percent of the juvenile offenders who received this sentence were African-American.


    - - - Updated - - -

    And for Michigan in particular, since that's where this story is.

    Nationwide, racial disparities appear at each
    juncture of the criminal justice system. In
    Michigan, 73% of those youth serving life
    without parole are children of color, despite their
    only representing 29% of youth in Michigan.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Humbugged View Post

    Absolutely ridiculous. A tragedy happened, no doubt about it. Why ruin the life of another child and tear apart a second family? There is no retaliatory justice in this. Charging a 12 year old as an adult with murder?
    This struck me curious.

    So what do you want to happen?

    If I remember correctly (correct me if I am wrong) being tried as a minor allows him to get out at 18.

    Where is the justice in that?

    The boy of 9 lost his life to the actions of a 12 year old which will only suffer for 6 years.

    Clearly the boy knew what he did as he turned himself in "showing remorse".


    Edit- I did look it up and minors can be sentenced to life, though they have to fight the 8th amendment.

    He knew what he had done, life is a fair sentence honestly.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Nictuswolf View Post
    This struck me curious.

    So what do you want to happen?

    If I remember correctly (correct me if I am wrong) being tried as a minor allows him to get out at 18.

    Where is the justice in that?

    The boy of 9 lost his life to the actions of a 12 year old which will only suffer for 6 years.

    Clearly the boy knew what he did as he turned himself in "showing remorse".


    Edit- I did look it up and minors can be sentenced to life, though they have to fight the 8th amendment.

    He knew what he had done, life is a fair sentence honestly.
    Somehow I think depriving him of the rest of his childhood is a pretty solid punishment. We treat children as differently than adults for a reason.

  7. #7
    life for a life, or life being mind fucked in a mental hospital, either of those outcomes works for me.

  8. #8
    Too young, should not be tried as an adult if you are a child.

  9. #9
    Scarab Lord 3DTyrant's Avatar
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    I wonder what brings a child to do such a thing. In any case, I'm not too sure how to feel about him being charged as an adult.
    Shath'mag vwyq shu et'agthu, Shath'mag sshk ye! Krz'ek fhn'z agash zz maqdahl or'kaaxth'ma amqa!
    The Black Empire once ruled this pitiful world, and it will do so again! Your pitiful kind will know only despair and sorrow for a hundred thousand millennia to come!
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  10. #10
    I knew at 5 it was wrong to hit people let alone stab them. At 12 I knew what the potential consequences were.

    I have no issue with this.
    Dragonflight Summary, "Because friendship is magic"

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by prwraith View Post
    I knew at 5 it was wrong to hit people let alone stab them. At 12 I knew what the potential consequences were.

    I have no issue with this.
    You knew you weren't supposed to do "bad" things just like my dog does. You did not understand the full weight of those actions.

  12. #12
    Old God Mirishka's Avatar
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    He committed a deliberate act of murder, and the fact that he himself called the police to turn himself in shows he understands the consequences. So IMO he shouldn't get slapped on the wrist because he's a pre-teen. I'm not saying they should gas him, but if he can kill someone that easily at 12, he won't be better as an adult.
    Appreciate your time with friends and family while they're here. Don't wait until they're gone to tell them what they mean to you.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Wells View Post
    You knew you weren't supposed to do "bad" things just like my dog does. You did not understand the full weight of those actions.
    Ignorance is not a valid defense.
    Dragonflight Summary, "Because friendship is magic"

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wells View Post
    You knew you weren't supposed to do "bad" things just like my dog does. You did not understand the full weight of those actions.
    Do you really believe that?

  15. #15
    Old God Mirishka's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wells View Post
    You knew you weren't supposed to do "bad" things just like my dog does. You did not understand the full weight of those actions.
    Kids know more today at 12 than most young adults did in the 80s and 90s. 'Did not understand the full weight' of his actions is not an excuse.

    EDIT: the fact that 3 people in a row pretty much called bullshit on your argument should tell you something.
    Appreciate your time with friends and family while they're here. Don't wait until they're gone to tell them what they mean to you.

  16. #16
    Legendary! Lord Pebbleton's Avatar
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    While a 12 years old boy gets an adult sentence, there are parts of the world where it is totally normal to lapidate a woman for having being raped.

    Truly people cannot find any form of Metriotes for anything anymore.

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Mirishka View Post
    He committed a deliberate act of murder, and the fact that he himself called the police to turn himself in shows he understands the consequences.
    "Understanding that what you did is not acceptable" is not what is referred to as understanding the consequences of your actions. A dog understands shitting on the floor is unacceptable. Shit my dog will even turn itself in.

  18. #18
    I'm more interesting in the mention of pills... what sort. Depending on what he took that could DRASTICALLY change the key line of the story.

    A kid knowing stabbing someone is wrong, no brainer.. A kid not understanding what effects particular drugs might have on him, more likely. Wondering if he only realized the full extend after he came down, and turning himself in was an act of remorse.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by prwraith View Post
    Ignorance is not a valid defense.
    Kids know more today at 12 than most young adults did in the 80s and 90s. 'Did not understand the full weight' of his actions is not an excuse.
    Then get rid of all distinctions between children and adults.

    EDIT: the fact that 3 people in a row pretty much called bullshit on your argument should tell you something.
    Yeah that threads regarding criminal punishments on MMO-C turn into a massive revenge boner circle jerk.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Wells View Post
    You knew you weren't supposed to do "bad" things just like my dog does. You did not understand the full weight of those actions.
    I dunno about your parents, but growing up my parents raised me not to do this kinda thing...
    Even explained why I shouldn't and what would happen if I did...

    People say a minor wont understand these things but lemme tell ya, at 12 years old I'd been scared to go to prison for a couple years.
    My parents explained it something like this.

    "If you do something really really bad like steal from other people or hurt other people so they can't get better you go to jail."
    "Whats jail?"
    "Its like timeout but you don't get out for a very very long time, and you sit in a small room(they exaggerated and implied like our cupboard for effect.)"

    They then told me various other things that could get me sent to this terrible time out place, and y'know what?
    My ass knew not to fucking do this shit...

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