SO the moral of the story is, if you've ever sold a gun to someone who used it in a crime, you will be procecuted as an accessory. (barf)
Story
Prison for Man Who Helped Columbine Teens Get Gun
By Judith Crosson
GOLDEN, Colo. (Reuters) - Hoping to warn others against helping youngsters procure handguns, a judge on Friday sentenced a former
pizza shop worker to 4-1/2 years in prison for introducing two teens to the man who sold them an assault weapon they used in the
Columbine High School massacre.
Phillip Joseph Duran, 23, was the second man to go to prison in connection with the April 20, 1999, shooting massacre that left 15 dead,
including the two gunmen, Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17.
``This sentence goes way outside this courthouse and beyond what is occurring here today,'' Judge Thomas Woodford said in handing
down a sentence of 4-1/2 years for helping minors obtain a hand gun and 2-1/2 years for possession of an illegal weapon. The two
felony sentences will be served concurrently.
``This is an example to keep our system on the course it should be,'' Woodford said, noting that the prison
term he handed down was high for someone with no criminal history.
Duran, who knew Harris and Klebold from a pizza shop they all worked in, introduced the two to Mark
Manes, who sold them for $500 a TEK-9 assault pistol that they used to kill four of the 13 people slain in the
massacre. Manes was sentenced in November to six years in prison. The two gunmen took their own lives
after the Columbine massacre.
Sentence Should Send A Message, Prosecutor Says
``It's a good, tough sentence for someone who has never been in trouble before,'' Jefferson County prosecutor Steve Jensen said. ``And I
hope it sends a message to the community that we cannot tolerate people giving guns to children.''
Prosecutors conceded that Duran knew nothing about the plot to shoot up the school, but his introductions paved the way for the
slaughter, they argued.
Lead investigator Kate Battan testified that when Duran was originally solicited by Harris and Klebold for a gun he turned them down
only because ``he didn't want his name to show up on any paperwork,'' a fact the judge said troubled him.
Duran also went target shooting with Harris and Klebold, who brought along rifles that another friend helped them obtain and that they
also used in the massacre. Duran even videotaped one of the sessions, which the judge referred to as the ``jovial setting at the (shooting)
range.''
On the videotape that captured the target practice, Harris said ``when you saw off shotguns to make them illegal bad things happen,''
Battan testified. That, Jensen said, should have served as a warning to Duran that Harris was unstable.
About 25 relatives of the victims attended the hearing and asked the judge to give Duran the maximum of nine years, while about 40
friends and relatives of Duran sat on the opposite side of the courtroom in a show of support.
Duran's mother Pat Duran pleaded with the judge to give her son probation, saying he was not brought up in a home that glorified guns.
``When he realized who the killers were ... he was mortified, devastated,'' she said.
Duran, who recently married his long-time sweetheart, would be expected to serve at least half of his sentence, prosecutors said.
------------------
~USP
"[Even if there would be] few tears shed if and when the Second Amendment is held to guarantee nothing more than the state National Guard, this would simply show that the Founders were right when they feared that some future generation might wish to abandon liberties that they considered essential, and so sought to protect those liberties in a Bill of Rights. We may tolerate the abridgement of property rights and the elimination of a right to bear arms; but we should not pretend that these are not reductions of rights." -- Justice Scalia 1998
[This message has been edited by USP45 (edited June 24, 2000).]
Story
Prison for Man Who Helped Columbine Teens Get Gun
By Judith Crosson
GOLDEN, Colo. (Reuters) - Hoping to warn others against helping youngsters procure handguns, a judge on Friday sentenced a former
pizza shop worker to 4-1/2 years in prison for introducing two teens to the man who sold them an assault weapon they used in the
Columbine High School massacre.
Phillip Joseph Duran, 23, was the second man to go to prison in connection with the April 20, 1999, shooting massacre that left 15 dead,
including the two gunmen, Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17.
``This sentence goes way outside this courthouse and beyond what is occurring here today,'' Judge Thomas Woodford said in handing
down a sentence of 4-1/2 years for helping minors obtain a hand gun and 2-1/2 years for possession of an illegal weapon. The two
felony sentences will be served concurrently.
``This is an example to keep our system on the course it should be,'' Woodford said, noting that the prison
term he handed down was high for someone with no criminal history.
Duran, who knew Harris and Klebold from a pizza shop they all worked in, introduced the two to Mark
Manes, who sold them for $500 a TEK-9 assault pistol that they used to kill four of the 13 people slain in the
massacre. Manes was sentenced in November to six years in prison. The two gunmen took their own lives
after the Columbine massacre.
Sentence Should Send A Message, Prosecutor Says
``It's a good, tough sentence for someone who has never been in trouble before,'' Jefferson County prosecutor Steve Jensen said. ``And I
hope it sends a message to the community that we cannot tolerate people giving guns to children.''
Prosecutors conceded that Duran knew nothing about the plot to shoot up the school, but his introductions paved the way for the
slaughter, they argued.
Lead investigator Kate Battan testified that when Duran was originally solicited by Harris and Klebold for a gun he turned them down
only because ``he didn't want his name to show up on any paperwork,'' a fact the judge said troubled him.
Duran also went target shooting with Harris and Klebold, who brought along rifles that another friend helped them obtain and that they
also used in the massacre. Duran even videotaped one of the sessions, which the judge referred to as the ``jovial setting at the (shooting)
range.''
On the videotape that captured the target practice, Harris said ``when you saw off shotguns to make them illegal bad things happen,''
Battan testified. That, Jensen said, should have served as a warning to Duran that Harris was unstable.
About 25 relatives of the victims attended the hearing and asked the judge to give Duran the maximum of nine years, while about 40
friends and relatives of Duran sat on the opposite side of the courtroom in a show of support.
Duran's mother Pat Duran pleaded with the judge to give her son probation, saying he was not brought up in a home that glorified guns.
``When he realized who the killers were ... he was mortified, devastated,'' she said.
Duran, who recently married his long-time sweetheart, would be expected to serve at least half of his sentence, prosecutors said.
------------------
~USP
"[Even if there would be] few tears shed if and when the Second Amendment is held to guarantee nothing more than the state National Guard, this would simply show that the Founders were right when they feared that some future generation might wish to abandon liberties that they considered essential, and so sought to protect those liberties in a Bill of Rights. We may tolerate the abridgement of property rights and the elimination of a right to bear arms; but we should not pretend that these are not reductions of rights." -- Justice Scalia 1998
[This message has been edited by USP45 (edited June 24, 2000).]