On summer Thursday evenings, there is a concert on the lawn of the Sauk County Courthouse that is across the street from where I work in Baraboo. Tonight it was the Madison British Brass Band. It is a laid-back, enjoyable event as families and couples and individuals sit on lawn chairs, chat with neighbors, watch the kids climb on the cannon and listen to various groups perform. The Commission for the Aging sells soda and pizza to help raise money for a new facility. Vendors in the street have popcorn and ice cream. A nice small town thing.This Thursday, there was a different kind of small town thing happening at the court house. You may even see pictures of it on the news -- the trial of sixteen-year-old Eric Hainstock who shot and killed the principal of his high school last fall. This is a tragedy that keeps unfolding, and there is probably no happy ending for anyone touched by it. This is rural Wisconsin, and almost everyone knows someone or the family of someone affected by the shooting. Maybe some of them had been at the concerts last summer when I was there with Tom. The courthouse must not seem so friendly to some today.
Please pray for the family of the deceased man, John Klang, for the students of Weston High School who are having the shock of that day revived by the trial, for Eric Hainstock who is being tried as an adult, for his family as they face the likelihood of their son serving a long prison term, and for the jurors, the attorneys and Judge Taggart who is presiding. I don't know any of the attorneys, although Judge Taggart is someone we deal with all the time. My bosses are not involved -- they do not practice criminal law -- but they live near where this happened.
It is going to be a hard time for a while with this small town event.
3 comments:
Why is Eric Hainstock being tried as an adult?
Cris
Cris,
Eric's attorneys tried to get him tried as a juvenile. He was 15 at the time of the shooting. They were hoping the chances of him getting better psychiatric care and other services would have been better in the juvenile system, but the reality is that there would not have been much help in that regard anyway. (I have a friend who served time in prison, and attempts at rehab were not ineffective -- they were virtually nonexistent.)
Judge Taggart agreed, however, with the prosecutor's contention that given the seriousness of the crime, Eric should be tried as an adult.
If you read more about this story, you will see how tangled it is. Eric claims to have been bullied and taunted at school, and there is sufficient evidence that he was neglected and abused at home. There is also ample evidence that he had threatened violence and specifically had threated the principal for having disciplined him. Eric also claims that he had been begging for help at school but had been ignored.
The prosecutor asserts that Eric is a manipulative liar, and she will no doubt be providing evidence of this.
You see why I say the jurors need prayers. About a dozen or potential jurors were dismissed because they said they did not believe they could judge fairly given all they had read and heard about the case. There is no real doubt that Eric killed John Klang.
Eric is almost certain to receive a life sentence.
Thanks, I understand.
In Italy a minor, at the time of the crime, is always tried as a juvenile, doesn't matter the crime.
Adult prisons are awful, but the juvenile system works very well.
A juvenile can receive 30 years maximum, and to go out after 10 years.
Cris
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