Teen Convicted Of Gun Possession In Online Photos

He lives near Columbine

nuff said.......

Hoping the defense attorney rips em a new one after he asks for a different judge.

"That doesn't mean juveniles could run around the house and do whatever he wanted with the gun," Jefferson County District Judge Brian Boatright said, noting that the father testified that his sons were not allowed to load or fire the weapons unless he was present.

"Boatright set bond at $5,000 and ordered that the boy be evaluated and that a safety plan drawn up before he could be freed"
 
What was the point or message the boy was trying to make? It seems to be a violation of his rights to do to him what they did, but I'm curious as to his intentions in the picture. Does he picture himself as a death dealer, or was it oriented towards an anti-gun position? I can't think of a positive point he could make with such a picture. Still, no crime was committed, another wrongfull arrest.

"On wings of lead" is a bad @$$ song by the way.:)
 
First you have to recognize that

as a teen, he has very few rights. He's probably guilty of being really really stupid and that is all. but then most boys his age are guilty of the same if not worse.

Actually, as I read about this I was thinking of a shooting trip I did with two sons of my best friends where I took some photos of them dressed up with 'Evil Assault Rifles' and handguns. Damn, I may be in a world of trouble.
 
I can't think of a positive point he could make with such a picture.
Click to expand...

"guns are freakin' cool!" is positive enough for me :P but that alone could be deemed dangerous enough for a DA frightened by the implication of the possibility of another Columbine
 
Unfortunately, the judge is probably getting all kinds of "ata-boy" pats on the back for saving the locals from "another psychopathic teenager with guns". Now I'd like to see a good defense attorney pick this up and eat their local CJ system for lunch--it's rediculous what is gotten away with at times.
 
As is usually the case . . .

the original story left out some details. By the way, get a load of the high school students' comments. Pictures of guns made one feel threatened. By the way II, where the hell were his parents??

Teen Arrested For Pictures On MySpace.com
Rick Sallinger
Reporting

(CBS4) EVERGREEN, Colo. A student at Evergreen High School was arrested and charged with having weapons after he posted pictures of himself on MySpace.com.

The pictures were brought to the attention of the school by a parent and the principal contacted the sheriff's department.

In one of the photos, the teen was surrounded by nine rifles and was holding two handguns with a caption that read, "Angel o' death on wings o' lead."

"That's pretty disturbing, a kid with guns you know," said a student at the teen's school.

In another photo, the teenager was wearing a trench coat and holding a gun. In the "about me" section, he wrote of his dislike of people, deserving to die and disdain for authority.

In another picture the teen was holding a handgun with a caption that read "Rally round the family with a pocket full of shells."

"When you see pictures of real guns, it leaves doubt in your mind as to how safe you are everyday," said another student at Evergreen.

In another excerpt, the teenager explained his love of music as the "difference between a good day and me holding some stupid person at gunpoint in the frozen food section."

Guns belonging to the family were found in the boy's home.

At Evergreen High School, some of the students were seen wearing t-shirts in support of the youth.

"They're friends with him and they don't think that he should be disciplined," said a student.

In addition to the criminal charges he will face, the teen was also suspended from school and could face expulsion.
 
Good thing none of the firearm pictures I have posted on myspace are incriminating. :rolleyes:

I remember when you couldnt be convicted for pictures found on the internet. Since they are digital pictures, there would be no proof that the picture was genuine and not a photoshop.
 
Juveniles in Colorado are not allowed to possess handguns, but the law allows parents to give their children permission to possess guns in their homes.
Click to expand...

Well that seems pretty clear.

"That doesn't mean juveniles could run around the house and do whatever he wanted with the gun," Jefferson County District Judge Brian Boatright said
Click to expand...

True, he could not shoot it out the window at passing cars or break another law but it is pretty clear that he broke no laws. This should get tossed and should be appealed. You could make a very strong case that the judge was acting out of political self interest.


Now on to the reality of the matter.

The kid is a moron. What is more, he is a moron with guns. He is also partaking in behaviour, portaying himself as the Angel O' Death that should cause his parents to put every gun under lock and key while also having him get some psychological help. Lets be honest people, the kid has issues and odds are this is not his first time acting suspicious. If anything these nut job teen school killers has taught us it is to be aware of warning signs from kids. If the kid had just photos of him with some of the guns that would be no biggie, but ritualistically laying them out, posing with them arranged around you on the floor and calling yourself the Angel O' Death is about as big a sign as a neon billboard. The parents should have had a little better understanding of this kid before letting him have acces to firearms because his next vernture with them very well may have been an illegal one.

If my kid went to school with this nut I would be damn concerned.

Finally, what is up with these morons and MySpace websites? These idiots get caught left and right posting stupid pictures and saying asinine things on them that come back to haunt them. We had a local HS fencing team gutted because of statements to the effect of "killing kids from the other school" with names given. Probably meaningless but kids need to start learning that free expression carries with it a responsibility and they are still minors with limited rights for a reason. That is because many of them are very stupid and do not comprehend consequences.
 
How times have changed... When I was in highschool is was common practice during hunting season for a lot of us to have guns in our trucks, parked in the school lot. Class let out, and off we'd go. I personally stood next to my truck while showing my new rifle to the school principal because he was interested in what I was shooting that year. It was also not uncommon when we were assigned a class presentation for someone to talk about hunting, shooting, etc. and have props for visual. I've collected swords my whole life and my history professor loved when I had one to bring in from a particular era we were studying--it wasn't considered too out of place to see me show up with books under one arm and a Civil War saber under the other. Even the school principal took an interest in the collection. Wadda-ya know... Everyone survived, I turned out just fine, and no one complained. Now I'd be convicted and sentenced to 20 to life.

Hope none of my son's teachers go onto myspace and see the photos of us at the range... Oh, wait--they still have a little common sense about them, so I'm not worried.....YET.

YES, maybe the kid is a moron---maybe he's trying to show off and look cool. But I looked through things in the article and on Colorado laws too, and I don't see any solid backing for prosecuting him in any way. My opinion is that the locals are looking to hang him as an example, and that's not going to do anything to smarten the kid up, just harden him against authority even more.
 
Is this kid's behavour illegal? I kind of doubt it.
As a parent, is the kid's behavour a concern? Yes!

Bringing this to the attention of the parents and (maybe) the school is the right thing to do. If this is a good kid making a really stupid image, a good talking to about the realities of other peoples' perception and firearms safety would probably solve the issue. If this is a kid on the edge of going the wrong way, an intervention with some councilling (and the guns locked in a safe) may well pull him back from the edge. If the kid is another school-shooter in the making, knowing about this image could stop a real horror from happening.

For right or wrong, images like this make a lot of people freakout. The DA, PD and the Judge, however, should know better. If all this kid has done is display a bunch of firearms and make a few really dumb statements on a kids' website, in my mind there is no crime. A concern, yes... but no crime.
 
I honestly don't know if the kid broke any laws or not. What about a minor under the age of 18 being in possession of a handgun? How might that fit into this situation?

One things for sure, whether or not the kid broke any laws, he could sure as heck stand a good caning.
 
There is one way I can think of making the charges stick. If there were conditions placed ont he kids possesion of handuns in the house and they were violated than he may be able to be held criminally accountable.

The father saying he had permission to handle the handguns but not load or leave the house with them is one thing. It also establshes that the parental consent was CONDITIONAL. By stating he had only CONDITIONAL permission mayu have actually hurt the kids case more than the father saying he had unlimited access to them while in the home. The fact that there were rules about the handling the weapons established at all in the home indicates other basic rules of handling would be present. I would wager that during cross examination the prosecution established that the father had seen to it the basic handling rules were taught to his son and expected them to be followed. One implied rule has always been that guns are not toys. By breaking any rules established or implied does the permission of the parent still exist as a sheild for the child?

The question is did the jury (unless he elected to have a trial without a jury) believe beyond a reasonable doubt that the father's permission to handle the guns did not include posing for photos, especially the types that were taken. That is actually easier to establish than at first thought. Think about it this way, would you give permission for your child to lay on the floor with guns spread around him like wings, take a photo of it, and post it on the internet with the caption "Angel O' Death on Wings O' Lead"? What is more, if your child had been given conditional access to your handguns could he reasonably interpret that permission to include handling them and taking the photos this kid did? Again, with the exception of some really wacked out parents, I would think it pretty clear that such permission would not exist.

Looked at in this way I think it far more easy to get a jury to convict. At the very least though this kid is now going to get the special attention he deserves.
 
Maybe this activity was not illegal, but regardless of that, it was very STUPID and IRRESPONSIBLE of him to post those photo's and make those kind's of statements. All that is going to do is raise suspicions about what his true intentions are. He definitely achieved one of them, scaring people. If I were his parents, I'd trigger lock all of those guns, it sounds like the kid has issues and might be unstable. This is just my take on it.
 
First off I will say that the kid has done nothing illegal or against the law. When I was 19 or 20 it was not uncommon for me to borrow one of my father's handguns (with his permission and blessing) and go shoot at the local range. I would come home, clean the gun, and place it back in the safe. This was allowed because I was responsible and used some brain cells when it came to behavior and appearances.

Let me finish by saying that this kid made some VERY unwise decisions. Posing with guns is not bad necessarily, even if you are doing an "action pose". As in simulating firing etc at inanimate objects. When you post particular captions and start simulating pointing at people etc is when you cross the line and it is a telltale sign of danger. Posting comments threating folks with a gun or guns is like waving a red flad at a bull just begging, "Prosecute me, prosecute me!"

I would imagine he got these stupid ideas from watching gangbanger movies, billboards, etc. There was a billboard not too long ago that showed some rapper in a movie called Get Rich or Die Tryin'. I think it was 50 Cent, it does not matter I digress. But in it he is holding a gun in a manner indicating he plans on using it against people etc. At the time I did not think anything of it, after all it is just another movie poster right? I have a Dirty Harry poster on my wall and he is holding a Smith-Wesson 29 (a lot more manly gun than some goofy automatic held sideways :p )

The kid is just not responsible and punishment if any should be left to his parents in this case. Maybe no guns for a few months would send the right message along with restricted access.
 
I can just see Diane Feinstein standing on stage with an enlarged version of that photo right in front of the gun grabbers.

What a complete moron, this kid needs his damn head examined.

It's this sorry @$$ behavior that makes millions of RESPONSIBLE gun owners look like dark souled people.
 
"dislike of people, deserving to die and disdain for authority"

I'm not a parent or anything but I would consider these to be warning signs in the context of firearms. sounds like a potential suicide by cop.
 
That's nice. I've always disliked people and my disdain for "authority" has continued to grow my entire life. Using these items has gotten me ahead in life, through never being intimidated by the PTB and never being caught by surprise when people live up to my low expectations of them... Gee, maybe I'm a potential suicide by cop? Actually I suppose that's possible, depending on how you define it...

We used to threaten to kill the neighboring football teams every year. At least once we met up with one team late at night and mopped up their city park with their butts. Nobody died and nobody got in trouble and most of the bruises were gone by the next weekend. :) But boy we sure sounded like we were bad when we talked about it.

The only difference other than the fact we, like many kids over the years, actually occassionally DID some of what we talked about, would be that we didn't leave photographic evidence of our bragging... So does that make this somehow worse? The kid more "unstable" than past generations? What?

He's a stupid teen who needs his Dad's belt laid smartly across his ass, just like we did(and often got). Other than that? We as a society are a bunch of over-reacting whiners.
 
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