Girl convicted of murder committed when she was 13

[proud2BlibKansan]

A Wyandotte County jury today convicted a girl of murder for killing a boy when she was 13 years old.

Keaira Brown, also known as Keaire Brown, now 15, was convicted as an adult of felony first-degree murder and attempted aggravated robbery.

She was among the youngest persons in the county charged as an adult for murder.

On July 23, 2008, she shot 16-year-old Scott Sappington Jr. in an apparent botched carjacking in Kansas City, Kan.



Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/11/09/2412979/kck-girl-convicted-of-murder-committed.html#ixzz14qan72fO

[Puregonzo1188]

1. I know the tough-on-crime folks will get here soon, but

I don't think it's ever right to charge a child that young as an adult.

[DJ13]

3. +1

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. Neither do I

This is just nuts.

[Skittles]

6. it isn't

[donheld]

7. We live in a throw away country

We throw children away for life without a second thought. There's no way a child of 13 should be tried as an adult for any crime.it's very sad.

[proteus_lives]

9. I have more sympathy for the person she murdered.

[tkmorris]

28. Is there someone who doesn't?

This isn't binary. I too sympathize most with the victim. That doesn't mean however that I agree with this young lady being tried as an adult. I don't, and there is no contradiction in that.

[proteus_lives]

33. Sorry but some situations are simple.

She put a gun to someone's head and pulled the trigger. For his car. She should be tried as an adult.

[donheld]

36. She was 13 years old. I strongly disagree.

[proteus_lives]

43. And she took a life.

Without mercy.

I disagree with you. She should be prison for the rest of her life.

[Name removed]

44. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[proteus_lives]

45. How so?

Because I don't believe in giving murderers a free pass?

[Skittles]

46. fuck it

not even gonna bother

[proteus_lives]

47. No, you shouldn't.

Look before you leap next time.

[Ginto]

65. So I guess she needs parental consent for an abortion.

Afterall, she isn't an adult and shouldn't be treated as one.

[Puregonzo1188]

56. Should she be allowed to vote? Drive a car? Sign a legal contract? Buy alcohol? If she consented to

sexual intercourse with a much older man should that not be considered statuary rape?

She has not been granted the right to make decisions legally as she is not an "adult," yet she can be be held accountable legally as if she is one?


Do you not see a problem with that?

[proteus_lives]

61. I don't see the confusion.

She murdered someone. With intent and malice.

She shot a boy in the head for his car.

Keep in juvie until she's 18 and then send to prison for the rest of her life.

[Poll_Blind]

8. She shot an innocent 15 year old in the head execution-style during a carjacking.

After he had dropped off his siblings and his grandmother and was going back to work at McDonald’s after dropping them off.

You find society what made her like that and we'll happily put that in prison for life. Until then I dunno what to tell you.

Here is a picture of the clothing she was wearing when she executed him.
Here is a picture of the kid who didn't deserve to die.

I don't usually think it's right to charge a child that young as an adult. In this case I don't have any problem with it. I know we disagree on that point. I'm just hesitant to throw an "ever" or "always" on top of that. I've found ideas which are based around "evers" and "always" usually lead to trouble.

PB

[proteus_lives]

13. There is nothing to throw away here.

The kid worth saving is already dead.

Lock her up and forget about her.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

70. I think you may be on the wrong website - this one is for liberals.

Dismissing a child as "not worth saving", "lock her up and forget about her" is a deeply wicked, stupid and illiberal position.

[ZombieHorde]

2. Poverty and education are extremely important issues.

Our society creates these situations.

[lonestarnot]

4. Swiftly put the face on that pig. Well done.

[JI7]

11. i don't think this has anything to do with poverty

[ZombieHorde]

20. Do poor neighborhoods and affluent neighborhoods have the same murder rates?

Are children from affluent families just as likely to car jack as children from poor families?

[proteus_lives]

12. Yet millions of poor or poorly educated people never murder anyone.

Hmmmm.

At some point you have to blame the person who pulled the trigger.

[ZombieHorde]

18. The person who pulled the trigger has already been blamed.

She was convicted.

[proteus_lives]

19. Yep and rightly so.

Because society didn't create this situation. She did.

[ZombieHorde]

21. Why are some countries more violent than other countries?

Do some countries just have more violent people in them than other countries because of random chance?

Why are relatively well educated people less likely to commit violent crimes than people with poor educations? Statistical anomaly?

Why are poor neighborhoods more crime ridden than affluent neighborhoods?

[proteus_lives]

26. I know what you're saying.

And I agree to a point.

But it doesn't absolve personal responsibility.

[ZombieHorde]

31. I completely agree personal responsibility is important, but societal responsibility is

also important.

I am not trying to excuse her behavior, but I believe this will happen less often if we address poverty and education with more vigor.

I don't know what we should do with her, but I agree she should be removed from the general population.

[proteus_lives]

32. I agree.

If we work on poverty and education, things will get better all around.

But even if we fix or improve everything, there will always be people like her.

She should be juvie until she's 18 and then moved to an adult prison for the rest of her life.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

69. The two are not mutually exclusive. N.T.

[proteus_lives]

10. She deserves to be prison for the rest of her life.

She murdered someone for their car.

[Name removed]

66. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[U4ikLefty]

80. My thoughts exactly. nt

[Stinky The Clown]

14. She was a child

I am not excusing what she did, but she was a CHILD.

[proteus_lives]

15. Who put a gun to another person's head and pulled the trigger.

Because she wanted his car.

Some child.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

68. Yes, "some child". Children sometimes do stupid, wicked or irresponsible things.

13 is certainly old enough to be charged and imprisoned, but that's one hell of a mitigating circumstance, and a sentence longer than 5 or 10 years would be grossly excessive, while one significantly shorter than that would not necessarily be too short.

[AlabamaLibrul]

16. A child committing a grown-up crime.

You can't murder someone for their car. She knew that. If you take a life, you'd better be fucking prepared to spend the rest of your own in a dingy concrete box.

Of course, I'm coming at this from the perspective of an armed robbery victim.

[Rage for Order]

17. What a piece of human excrement that girl is

Maybe if she'd have been on the way to her job like her murder victim was on the way to his job this wouldn't have happened. She shouldn't go to prison for life, but a minimum of 30 years served before she's eligible for parole would be fair. Give her a little time to think about what she did.

[eilen]

23. Can you get an actual job at 13?

I think she should pay for her crime, but not at the level of an adult. She was 13 years old, committing a crime I think she was likely put up to in some gang she was trying to belong to. I really am not convinced she fully understood the implications and consequences of her actions. It is kind of like holding those child soldiers in Sierra Leone responsible for their actions.

[Rage for Order]

25. I worked when I was 13

I nailed homemade cardboard signs to telephone poles offering to do yardwork - raking leaves, cutting grass, trimming hedges. She could also babysit or pick up aluminum cans and returnable bottles, which I also did for money at that age. Every 13 year old, excepting the mentally retarded, understands that murder is wrong, and when you shoot someone in the head they die.

[Hannah Bell]

37. aren't you a paragon of virtue.

[proud2BlibKansan]

39. LOL

Good call.

[Rage for Order]

72. So you're in favor of letting murderers go free then

Got it

[proud2BlibKansan]

77. And you enjoy posting snarky comments on the internet

Gotcha

[proteus_lives]

41. Bet he never murdered someone for their car.

[Hannah Bell]

51. well, two more brownie points for him, then!

[proud2BlibKansan]

53. Or perhaps if he did it was when we had a juvenile justice system

that didn't try 13 year olds as adults.

[proteus_lives]

62. Then he got off scot-free.

Only five-eight years for murder? Good deal for the killer.

[proud2BlibKansan]

78. Because serving 5 years in prison is the same thing

as getting off scot free. :crazy:

[proteus_lives]

79. For murder? Yeah.

It is.

You see, (you may not understand this but bear with me) a human life is worth more then five years.

[Rage for Order]

71. No, just demonstrating that it is possible to work at 13 if one wants to

I didn't work 30 hours a week, but I made enough money to buy rock magazines, cassette tapes, and other things young teens are interested in. Why are you so vested in looking for reasons to excuse this lose, piece-of-shit girl's behavior? 13 year old kids know what murder is, and they know it's wrong.

[bluetrain]

50. I started working when I was 5. Yes, you can work at 13. Don't recommend it, but you can.

I think one of the mistakes in our justice system with regard to teenage offenders is that while, yes, they may "understand" the consequences of a crime, the attitudes during those ages, the extreme and overwhelming emotions experienced, tend to make everything very, very easy to rationalize as an act of rebellion and an act of bonding; the dissolution of official rites of passage has created this really scuzzy ground wherein parents are no longer gifting their children to the world, but the kids flee amok from family to social groups trying to recreate a closeness, an allegiance which is never going to be of the same quality.

[Liquorice]

22. I seriously doubt that a 13 year old girl made a decision to carjack someone

all on her own. Someone older was almost certainly behind it. I mean, she can't even drive a car, and where did she get the gun? I can't find more detailed information on this story, but I have questions about whether the girl acted alone.

The murder victim's family does deserve justice; I don't think she should be given a life sentence, however.

[Poll_Blind]

24. Oh I don't think a kid with a pistol and a bad attitude needs an adult to give them bad ideas.

There's not always a Fagin behind every Artful Dodger.

PB

[Liquorice]

27. I just find it very hard to believe that a 13 year old would be able to get a gun on her own,

with the intention of carjacking a car and... what, selling the car?? Was she going to put an ad in the paper for it?? Sell it to a neighbor? I don't know. I guess it could happen, but I don't believe she acted alone. Her mom is saying that a street gang was behind it. I can believe that. I certainly don't think she is innocent in any way, and she should be punished for the murder, but I think there are other people involved too.

[Poll_Blind]

29. Well, if you look at my response (#8) there's a link to the clothing she wore during the...

...execution. Really though, while I agree with you at heart, I think the minds of a lot of criminals, especially ones as young as this, really don't go that far in the "thinking it out" department.

Looking at those clothes of hers it reminds me of something I noticed about guys who get just about full body suits of skulls and snakes and Grim Reapers and all that shit.

The point is they want you to look at them and thing "Oh shit, that dude is a badass!"

Her clothes, for obvious reasons, struck me the same way.

PB

[Liquorice]

30. Yeah, she was definitely trying to look tough. It may have been gang-related. nt

[hfojvt]

34. sometimes a shirt is just a shirt

I have/had a shirt with a flaming skull guy on a motorcycle. I never wanted anybody to think I was a badass. I just thought it was a cool shirt.

[Poll_Blind]

35. Well, with all due respect: No Shit. n/t

PB

[Puregonzo1188]

57. I used to wear heavy metal band t-shirts when I was her age--

Slayer, Iron Maiden, etc. They all head corpses, zombies, skeletons, etc. on them. It didn't mean I was a violent psychopath, just a 13 year-old boy.

Well that certainly isn't the case with her, it's also reason why you can't use someone's clothing as evidence to their personal character.

[lumberjack_jeff]

59. Do you believe that a 13 year old *boy* could carjack someone? n/t

[Liquorice]

73. What are you implying? I don't think a 13 year old boy would do that on his own either. nt

[lumberjack_jeff]

76. I'm just saying that I've never heard anyone defend a male murderer in that way.

"Surely someone must have put him up to it."

[Hannah Bell]

38. anne perry, the novelist, killed someone when she was 14.

Anne Perry (born Juliet Marion Hulme in Blackheath, London on 28 October 1938) is an English author of historical detective fiction. Perry was convicted of the murder of her friend's mother in 1954 (see Parker-Hulme murder).

Together with her school friend Pauline Parker, Hulme murdered Parker's mother, Honora Rieper,<1> in June 1954. Hulme's parents were in the process of separating, and she was supposed to go to South Africa to stay with a relative. The two teenage girls, who had created a rich fantasy life together populated with famous actors such as James Mason and Orson Welles, did not want to be separated. They had hoped to go to England with Hulme's father after the divorce.

On 22 June 1954, the girls took Honora Rieper for a walk in Victoria Park in their hometown of Christchurch. On an isolated path Hulme dropped an ornamental stone so that Ms. Rieper would lean over to retrieve it. At that point, Parker had planned to hit her mother with half a brick wrapped in a stocking. The girls presumed that would kill the woman. Instead, it took 45 frenzied blows from both girls to finally kill Honora Rieper. The brutality of the crime has contributed to its notoriety.

Hulme took the name Anne Perry, the latter being her stepfather's surname. Her first novel, The Cater Street Hangman, was published under this name in 1979. Her works generally fall into one of several categories of genre fiction, including historical murder mysteries and detective fiction. Many of them feature a number of recurring characters, most importantly Thomas Pitt, who appeared in her first novel, and amnesiac private investigator William Monk, who first appeared in her 1990 novel The Face of a Stranger. As of 2003 she had published 47 novels, and several collections of short stories. Her story "Heroes", which first appeared in the 1999 anthology Murder and Obsession, edited by Otto Penzler, won the 2001 Edgar Award for Best Short Story.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Perry

[proteus_lives]

40. Only five years for murder?

Sickening.

[proud2BlibKansan]

42. I saw that movie

Had no idea it was a true story.

[renate]

48. gee, I'm so glad she had a nice successful life

Fourteen is way, way, way old enough to know it's not okay to kill somebody to get what you want.

[Hannah Bell]

49. you have psychic powers or something? it must be hard to exist on earth as an omniscient being.

[aikoaiko]

52. I'm Ok with life with parole (if that's an option.

If she redeems herself, then let out.

[Brickbat]

54. According to her mother, this girl tried to commit suicide when she was 10.

I despise the "charged as an adult" option.

[walldude]

55. A 13 year old brain is not fully developed.

It is not capable of reasoning the way a fully developed adult brain is. That's not to say this kid shouldn't be in prison. But to throw away the key on a kid who has a chance to redeem herself is purely vengeance.

It's possible that this is just a bad kid and she shouldn't ever see the light of day again, but it's also possible that there could be redemption for her in time, and to deny that is disingenuous.

[mvd]

75. I agree with you

I think the kid needs a new evaluation when she turns 18. Yes, maybe a long prison sentence is necessary. But even murderers can sometimes be redeemed, especially ones so young.

I support life in prison for adults who murder in cold blood, pedophiles who assult/rape, etc. Not for someone who is 13.

[spinbaby]

58. Do you all not remember what it's like to be 13?

Combine raging hormones, an immature brain, and a rich fantasy life with the wrong environment and I can definitely see where a 13-year-old could convince herself this was a good idea. Consequences don't always register with kids this age.

[Hannah Bell]

60. no, all the good, decent folk here were working & supporting families at 13.

they went to church every sunday & volunteered at soup kitchens in their free time.

[proteus_lives]

63. Yep. And I didn't kill anyone and I wouldn't have.

She murdered someone, blew their brains out for a car.

I don't understand why people are so desperate to let her off the hook.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

64. As per a SCOTUS decision a few years ago, she can't get the death penalty.

And that is a good thing.

Choke on that, punishists.

[Dyler Turden]

67. At 13 there is no question as to he adulthood or childhood.

A child does childish things as heinous as they might be because children can be unbelievably cruel at times. However, I feel that it is an injustice perpetrated by the prosecution in pushing for charging this child as an adult.

However for an interesting look at the flip-side read Yukio Mishima's The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea in which a 13 year old takes harbor in the law which prevents adult punishment. Or you could watch the movie that caused Kris Kristofferson's divorce due to his scenes with Vera Miles. This, however, is FICTION.

[Taitertots]

74. Murderer at 13, lock her away for life

I'm not willing to let someone who has already proven that they are mentally incapable of deciding right from wrong stay on the street.