He's pleading not guilty. Really.

Is “Not guilty by reason of stupidity” a thing?

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can you at least see the text?

quote:

Originally posted by rsbolo:
He's pleading not guilty. Really.

I've never seen an attorney allow (or a Judge accept) a defendant entering anything but a not guilty plea at a first appearance on serious felony charges.

It's just a formality.

At that point, the defense has had zero chance to examine the evidence in the case, determine if there's enough for a conviction, determine if there's a potential defense, determine if there's a constitutional violation, etc. Many times, the defendant and their attorney have never even met before that hearing, or there's a public defender standing in for whatever lawyer they're going to be hiring in the future to represent them.

Even those that later plead guilty had previously pled not guilty during at least one prior preliminary hearing.

Hell, many courts' orders for initial appearances are boilerplate forms with "Defendant enters a plea of Not Guilty" already noted before any of the other details are written in.

I have embarrassed myself at IDPA, Steel Challenge, bowling pins, other competitions and classes by trying to fire a weapon with the safety on. With that perspective …

So, good on the teacher!

What do you do when someone sticks a gun in your face and pulls the trigger?

FIGHT!

What we know about the teen who police say nearly opened fire inside North Scott Jr. High School
(Yes, that is really the headline)

POSTED 12:27 PM, JULY 9, 2019, BY RYAN JENKINS

DAVENPORT, Iowa - Luke Andrews, 13, of Davenport, Iowa, is accused of trying to open fire inside of a classroom at North Scott Junior High School on August 31, 2018.

His trial is set to begin in July of 2019. Judge Marlita Greve said prospective jurors were still being selected on Tuesday, July 9.

Attorneys are expected to question a pool of prospective jurors before narrowing a group of 33 prospective jurors down to a group of 12 jurors and three alternates.

Andrews is charged with attempted murder, carrying weapons on school grounds, and assault while displaying a dangerous weapon.

The charges stem from an incident where police reports say Andrews walked into a classroom at North Scott Junior High School and Pointed a .22 Caliber gun in the face of a teacher a pulled the trigger.

The gun didn't go off because Andrews forgot to take the safety off, according to arrest affidavits.

The gun was then wrestled away from Andrews by the teacher and the gun was secured by officers at the scene.

Police say they found the gun to be fully loaded with one round in the chamber and 11 rounds in the magazine.

Andrews was 12 years old at the time of the incident. He is now 13 years old, but he is being tried as a "youthful offender" in the adult court.

Andrews has pleaded "not guilty" to his charges.

^^^^ Thank you for posting the article.
As news sites are just loaded with a bunch of click bait BS.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
[QUOTE]
I've never seen an attorney allow (or a Judge accept) a defendant entering anything but a not guilty plea at a first appearance on serious felony charges...

I have even in cases where the defendant is facing a potential life sentence (May was the last one I saw). In my experience, it typically happens in a summons case and the defendant retained counsel early on. The plea usually includes a stipulated sentence as well.

Stipulated sentences present a different issue as a judge isn’t bound by the sentencing stipulation unless he/she agrees in what we call a Rule 11 hearing. However, Rule 11 allows a judge to back out of the sentencing agreement if, in their sole opinion, the sentencing report presents facts materially different than what was proffered at the Rule 11/Initial appearance hearing. Of course, if the judge backs out, the whole plea deal blows up and everything starts over.

All in all, it’s not common and it goes without saying the prosecutor and defense counsel trust each other.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BB61,

No doubt his defense will include:
He was bullied and the school did nothing to help him.
He had a bad home life, drugs, beatings etc.
He was drug impacted before birth.
His brain is still developing so he didn’t understand what he was doing.
Video games.

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
can you at least see the text?

Nossir, just the notice I posted

DAVENPORT, Iowa - Eight witnesses testified in court on Thursday, as 13-year-old Luke Andrews sat beside his lawyers inside of a courtroom at the Scott County Courthouse.

North Scott Junior High School Counselor Holly Leinhauser was emotional as she remembered the moments that she worked with another teacher to grab the gun out of the then-12-year-old's hands.

"Then I asked what was the intent? What were you trying to do? And he said to end it and end anything that got in his way," Leinhauser told the jury when asked about August 31, 2018.

That's the day police say Andrews brought a .22 caliber pistol to school. The gun was loaded.

He is accused of walking into a classroom, telling his peers to get down, pointing the gun at a teacher, and pulling the trigger.

Defense attorneys say Andrews never intended to kill anyone.

"What Luke did was attention seeking behavior," said defense attorney Meenakshi Brandt. "Not intent to commit murder."

In an opening statement, Brandt told the jury, "He did bring a gun to school. He did bring it into a classroom. Luke owns that fact."

The gun was in court Thursday.

The school resource officer held it up and identified it.

Other witnesses on Thursday included two of Andrew's classmates, the school's assistant principal, two police officers who were on the scene on the day in question, and by a criminalist from the state lab were also heard.

Andrews is on trial in adult court and is charged as a youthful offender.

Prosecutors used their opening statement to remind the jury of the job they have to do to give Andrews a fair trial.

"I will ask you to put aside your sympathy, your bias, and I will ask you to follow the law," said Julie Walton, Assistant Attorney in Scott County, Iowa.

Court resumes Friday at 9:00 a.m. at the Scott County Courthouse.

Seeking attention? Hopefully he will get all the attention he needs in jail.

Much of this type of behavior is not new. On Dec. 4, 1986, I was living in Lewistown Montana when a 14 year old student shot and killed a substitute teacher. He thought he killed his regular teacher who had called in sick that day. He also shot the Asst. Principal in the stomach. He later recovered after numerous surgeries. He eventually became the principal of the elementary school where both my kids attended.

Word traveled fast in the small community of 6,500 via a phone tree. I had all doors of the bank locked immediately as the perpetrator ran through town.

Sad time in a small town.

LINK

quote:

He was bullied and the school did nothing to help him.
He had a bad home life, drugs, beatings etc.
He was drug impacted before birth.
His brain is still developing so he didn’t understand what he was doing.
Video games.

its just sad when a mature adult is not around or does not care enough to help kids with what ever problems they are going through.

I am guessing that the teachers were thanking the good lord that he did not find a glock, 1st

quote:

That's the day police say Andrews brought a .22 caliber pistol to school. The gun was loaded. He is accused of walking into a classroom, telling his peers to get down, pointing the gun at a teacher, and pulling the trigger.

Defense attorneys say Andrews never intended to kill anyone.

WTF? Didn't intend to kill? Those attorneys have some long noses.