Judge denies plea proposals for teens in fatal rock-throwing case

[Siwsan]

FLINT, MI - Genesee Circuit Judge Joseph J. Farah denied proposals from attorneys on Wednesday that aimed to get juvenile sentences for four teens charged with throwing a rock off a highway overpass that killed a Mt. Morris man.

Farah said it was the second time he was denying potential resolutions in the case for 17-year-olds Mark Sekelsky, Mikadyn Payne, 16-year-old Alexzander Miller and 15-year-old Trevor Gray.

Attorneys for the four aim to have 10 of the 11 charges each teen faces dropped and have a second-degree murder charge amended to manslaughter if the deal is accepted in Genesee Circuit Court.

They're charged with the Oct. 18, 2017, killing of 32-year-old Kenneth A. White, who died after a rock was dropped from the Dodge Road overpass onto southbound Interstate 75 in Vienna Township, crashing through the windshield of a vehicle he was riding in.

https://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2018/09/judge_denies_plea_proposals_fo.html

[Jack-o-Lantern]

1. Jail these asshole scum, and throw away the key!

[SimpleC]

2. Ugly Case...

Sadly, those "kids"... made some very adult decisions... like collecting rocks from a different location and transporting them to an overpass, where they thought it would be cool to pitch them at vehicles doing 60+ MPH underneath... resulting in someone's death.

I would agree that they don't need kiddy jail... they're grown up now... time to treat them as the adults they believe themselves to be.

[JimGinPA]

4. No

15, 16 & 17 is NOT grown up.

[cynatnite]

5. Agreed. The plea deal sounded fair...

As long as they show adequate remorse keeping in mind their ages.

A minor should never be charged as an adult, IMO. If they're not adult enough to vote, drink, etc, they're not old enough to be charged as adults, IMO.

[SimpleC]

6. That's part of what makes it ugly...

They are old enough to know what they were doing was wrong and did it anyway. Transporting the rocks from one location to another means preplanning and plenty of opportunities to stop this plan. I was pretty smart at that age and knew then it would be wrong. It's an evil prank, joke, whatever you want to call it. It resulted in someone's death.

This is a hard case, because it's hard to really know if the kids are remorseful or not.

IMO... I think whether this plea deal is accepted or not should go to the family of the man killed in this travesty. If they are willing to be lenient, I believe that is fair. If the family wants them punished, I also believe that is fair.

[JimGinPA]

7. Once Again I Disagree

It shouldn't be up to the family whether or not they are tried as adults. Or this judge apparently.

What they did was stupid. But they caused someone's death committing vandalism, not robbing a liquor store or raping someone or committing some other kind of violent crime.

Sending juveniles to an adult prison will either teach them to be a sex toy or how to spend the rest of their lives in and out of prison for committing crimes they've learned from the real criminals there. Or both.

I would guess they'll regret what they've done for the rest of their lives, whether they end up in prison or serve some other punishment.

Oh, and you only thought you were "pretty smart" at that age.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

8. prison reform

You make a good case for prison reform.

"Sending juveniles to an adult prison will either teach them to be a sex toy or how to spend the rest of their lives in and out of prison for committing crimes they've learned from the real criminals there. Or both."

Prison should be a place for people who are too dangerous to be free amongst us. When we take away someone's freedom, we bear a responsibility to protect them from others who are likewise too dangerous to be free. We are failing in that responsibility.

Prison should not be a place of torture, nor a crime university. Also, see, e.g., Norway.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/feb/25/norwegian-prison-inmates-treated-like-people

[Orsino]

9. There's nothing adult about their decisions. n/t

[john657]

3. If you're prepared to do the crime,

Last edited Wed Sep 26, 2018, 09:43 PM - Edit history (1)

you damn well better be prepared to do the time.


WTF where they thinking of? Did they really believe that they would cause no harm
Now, because of their assholish stupidity, a man is dead and they're now felons and almost certainly going to prison.