Global Courant 2023-05-23 03:44:49
COLUMBIA, SC (AP) — A school shooter serves a life sentence Without parole for murdering a first grader on a South Carolina playground when he was 14, a judge asks to have his sentence reduced so he can eventually get out of jail.
Jesse Osborne’s lawyer asked Judge Lawton McIntosh Monday to reconsider his sentence so that the now 21-year-old Osborne can have some hope of freedom when he is 50 or 60.
Attorney Frank Eppes said the judge did not fully consider a psychologist’s report that Osborne lashed out for abuse and can be rehabilitated.
“Give Jesse some hope to live with,” Eppes said during a televised court hearing.
Osborne himself asked for a chance at life outside of a prison cell and apologized to the family of 6-year-old Jacob Hall he killed and everyone else at school that day.
“I just want to say sorry to each of them. Because my bad actions hurt their lives,” Osborne said. “I’m just going to try and improve myself for the rest of my life at the Department of Corrections.
But the teacher whose class was on recess, the parent of an injured child, the father of the student celebrating his birthday, the superintendent who saw the bloodstained class cloth and the principal all said at Monday’s hearing at the Anderson County Courthouse. that they don’t ever want to see Osborne out of prison again.
Principal Denise Fredericks recognized Osborne as he paced outside Townville Elementary School with a backpack full of ammunition for 12 minutes after his gun jammed before police arrived to arrest him. Osborne had been a student there for seven years.
“I wish Jesse a life where he can wake up, breathe, eat, work, be productive – but not outside the walls of a prison,” Fredericks said. “In my opinion, his current punishment is still so, so much more merciful than the punishment he meted out to Jacob and our school family.”
Prosecutors said Hall’s family would not speak in court but want Osborne never to be released from prison.
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Osborne will then serve two life sentences plead guilty. Before opening fire on the school on Sept. 28, 2016, he shot and killed his father as he slept in a recliner, kissed his rabbit and other pets goodbye, then stole his father’s truck and drove to his former elementary school, according to Osborne’s confession.
Osborne crashed his truck into the school gate and shot at the first class celebrating a classmate’s birthday during recess. Hall bled to death from a gunshot to the leg. Two other students and a teacher suffered minor injuries.
Uneaten cupcakes with the Batman logo could still be seen on the floor on police tape hours after the shooting.
“My son now hates his birthday,” father Jeff Bernard told the judge.
Prosecutors said Osborne wanted to kill dozens, but he carried the wrong ammunition and his rifle jammed after every shot.
He didn’t stop because he wanted to. The gun jammed. Thank goodness the gun jammed,” Fredericks said.
Osborne’s lawyer said a video call he opened for a group chat with people who knew his plan showed him sobbing, upset and ready to give up after the initial shots.
Osborne asks judge to consider additional report from psychologist who disagrees with prosecution experts who testified at Osborne’s original sentencing that he is a dangerous and pathological liar without regret.
Osborne’s brain was still developing in his teens. The psychiatrists quoted by the defense said he has shown guilt and grief and has responded to treatment during the nearly seven years since his arrest on school grounds.
Osborne’s lawyer proposed a minimum sentence of 30 years for the two murders, followed by 15 years for shooting the other children and then lifelong monitoring by GPS after he is released from prison with one review at 10 years.
McIntosh requested a detailed report from the defense expert in the following month and told prosecutors they would have at least 10 days to respond.
A number of students never returned to the school after the shooting. Some have not returned to a school. A popped balloon ended a school dance in tears. The recess is still filled with dread, said teacher Meghan Hollingsworth, whose class celebrated its birthday that day. Her child was in kindergarten down the hall.
“The screaming of kids having fun causes panic as I look to see who’s screaming and see if everything is okay,” she said.
She asked the judge to consider a sign in her first-grade classroom and uphold his life sentence from more than three years ago.
You are free to choose, but you are not free from the consequences of your choices.
