US teenager found guilty in school shooting plot

[Robb]

Source: AP

BARTLESVILLE, Oklahoma (AP) — A teenager who authorities say tried to recruit classmates for a mass shooting and bomb attack at his U.S. school has been convicted in a plot to kill students, teachers and police officers.

A jury found 19-year-old Sammie Eaglebear Chavez guilty of planning to cause bodily harm and recommended a 30-month prison term and $5,000 fine. The jury found him not guilty of conspiring to perform an act of violence.

Chavez was arrested in December, hours before a gunman opened fire at a Connecticut elementary school and killed 20 children and six adults before killing himself. A string of mass shootings in recent years have fueled a divisive debate over U.S. gun control laws.

Chavez had pleaded not guilty and testified in his own defense that he was joking when he told classmates about how a shooting and bomb attack could be carried out at his school in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

Read more: http://www.kens5.com/news/national/225168832.html

[Demeter]

1. Okay, how is this not prosecuting and punishing a Thought Crime?

And how will prison help, if he is showing signs of mental illness?

[Paladin]

2. So it shouldn't count, unless there are a bunch of dead students?

It sounds like this young man's actions progressed far beyond a mere "thought crime."

[Demeter]

9. A teenager mouths off, looks stuff up on the internet

Did he buy a weapon? Or was he making a typical fucked up teenager cry for help?

Bitching is not a crime, or we'd all be locked up.

[Paladin]

10. You might as well get used to minimizing actions like this.

God knows, you're going to be doing it a lot, in the future.....

[Posteritatis]

12. Why? Violence in schools has been trending downward for years. (nt)

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. There was a semi-auto rifle at his home

Handwritten notes, photographs of students, drugs and a semi-automatic rifle were among items seized by police in a search of the home in which a Bartlesville High student who allegedly plotted a mass shooting resided.
...
A semi-automatic Marlin rifle was among items seized from the Chavez home. The stock had been cut off of the gun and a pistol grip was added, the warrant states. Two swords and a set of brass knuckles also were seized in the search.

Jessie Chavez, Sammie’s mother, told police her son had recently checked out of the public library the movie “Bowling for Columbine” — a political documentary on gun control and the causes of the 1999 massacre in which students were killed at a Littleton, Colo., high school.

Bartlesville students had reported seeing Chavez researching the Columbine killings. As part of the search effort, Bartlesville police seized records of items Chavez had checked out of the library.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/site/printerfriendlystory.aspx?articleid=20121218_12_0_BARTLE917694

[ehrnst]

3. It was a threat. If you don't take someone seriously when they say they will kill,

then they kill - that's ignoring signs of potential violence.

Yes, he needs medical care. Too bad he has to go to prison to get it.

[iandhr]

4. Since when has threatening mass murder...

... been protected by the first amendment?

[eggplant]

7. It stops being a thought crime when it comes out of your mouth. n/t

[markpkessinger]

13. Police also found notes in his home about a possible attack . . .

. . . which suggests this was a bit more serious than a teenager "mouthing off."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/17/sammie-eaglebear-chavez-rifle_n_2318628.html

[Sunlei]

5. To me this seems fair, he had a jury trial and spoke to them. I hope prison doesn't make him worse.

One charge, the other charge dropped. A parent that seems helpful & involved in his life.

[snooper2]

6. google image search his name and tell me if that doesn't creep you out

[Voice for Peace]

8. no doesn't creep me out.

He is a sad boy and I hope he gets help before
it's all wrecked for him and others.

[Judi Lynn]

15. Your comment says more about you. There's nothing there to ridicule.

So many kids that age have very similar expressions they wear at times.

So what else is it about that image which sets you off?

[snooper2]

16. The way google images showed almost the same picture 100 times

came back looking funny...of course I've used that feature 1000 times so it's probably just me


every other time you'll get quite a variety-

[Posteritatis]

11. "guilty of planning to cause bodily harm" / "not guilty of conspiring to perform an act of violence"

...Wha?