Family appeals teen's federal sentence (burned Poppy Bush' s boat engine)

[MaineDem]

PORTLAND (AP) -- The family of a Kennebunk teenager who is serving 30 months in prison for burning down a boatyard last year is appealing the sentence the boy received in federal court.

The 14-year-old boy and a 19-year-old accomplice broke into the Arundel boatyard in July 2002 and set a fire that destroyed a building, boats and engines.

The younger boy was tried in federal court and sentenced to 30 months in prison, which he is serving in Pennsylvania.

/snip/

Bush's boat engine was destroyed in the fire. Prosecutors and a Bush spokeswoman deny the former president had anything to do with the case being pushed to federal court.

http://www.wmtw.com/Global/story.asp?S=1575594&nav=7k6rJphj

[htuttle]

1. BART!

Doh!

[peekaloo]

9. lol......this'll rattle a few windows in Kennebunkport.

:o

[bedtimeforbonzo]

2. Sorry

but 30 months for burning down a boatyard doesn't sound outrageous.

He could have killed somebody, if anyone had been in that building.

[grasswire]

3. he's freaking fourteen years old

Being sent to a federal lockup hundreds of miles away from his family is wrong. The place is likely a rape house and a school for crime.

If the goal is correction and rehabilitation, other measures would be more appropriate, at the local level.

[bedtimeforbonzo]

4. Sorry again

This time because I misread the article.

He should be in juvie, not adult prison.

I wonder if there is a juvenile ward for the lockup he's in.

[MaineDem]

7. He is in a juvenile prison

He was sent to a maximum security juvenile facility in Pennsylvania on the order of the federal Bureau of Prisons.

I don't understand why it was a federal crime though.

And welcome to DU! :hi:

[libview]

5. I bet he won't be setting any more fires though.

[leetrisck]

6. Probably one of the bush brats

did it and blamed it on someone else. Federal Court - why?

[Tempest]

8. Why federal court?

It's all part of Ashcroft's "get tough on crime" program.

He's forcing prosecutors to go for the maximum sentence, and he's forcing judges to move state cases to the federal level.