Medicine Hat Girl Guilty of first degree murder

3163 Views 12 Replies 8 Participants Last post by ArtistSeries, Jul 11, 2007

Cole Slaw

Discussion Starter · Jul 10, 2007

Looks like she'll get UP TO 6 years in jail, well, kiddy jail.
Wow, pretty good deal this country gives you for being in on the slaughter of your own family.
Link: Medicine Hat girl guilty of first-degree murder : Top Stories : News : Sympatico / MSN

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1 - 13 of 13 Posts

monokitty

· #2 · Jul 10, 2007

This is no surprise. No where in North America, as far as I can tell, would a 13-year old girl be given an adult sentence even based on a crime just as this. The below also doesn't help her sentence:

"In his charge to the jury, Brooker noted that both the Crown and defence agreed that it was the girl's 23-year-old boyfriend, Jeremy Steinke, who physically stabbed and slashed the three family members to death." Link.

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dona83

· #3 · Jul 10, 2007

Wow her life is over, she's going to be 19 by the time she gets out of jail.

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markceltic

· #4 · Jul 10, 2007

dona83 said:
Wow her life is over, she's going to be 19 by the time she gets out of jail.

Good one! :lmao:

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Cole Slaw

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 10, 2007

Lars said:
This is no surprise. No where in North America, as far as I can tell, would a 13-year old girl be given an adult sentence even based on a crime just as this.

Well, Lars, you may be right.
I don't claim to have all the answers to an issue like this, but, damn, a sentence like that ( whether it's typical or not) just doesn't seem right to me.
Give her 6 years in kiddie jail, then 10 in real jail. Or something.
But make it more than what she got today.

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ArtistSeries

· #6 · Jul 10, 2007

Seems the police were a little unethical...

Sgt. Sheehan, the primary investigator in the case, peppers the girl, identified during her trial only as J.R., with questions about what happened the night her family died. She repeatedly asks for a lawyer and cries. Eventually, she tells the officer about her plan to run away with Mr. Steinke and about seeing the bodies of her family.

“The first thing I felt was shock, the second thing was freedom,” she said.

The jury, which found the girl guilty of first-degree murder yesterday, never saw these tapes. Mr. Justice Scott Brooker of the Court of Queen's Bench declared them inadmissible, due in part to what he called “utterly deplorable” police tactics used in them. The judge ruled that the contents of the tapes, which were played in court in the absence of the jury, could not be published until the verdict was read. The content of the tapes raises questions both about police conduct and what really happened that night.

In making his ruling, Judge Brooker said young people may make false statements to please authority figures, which is why Parliament took extra care to protect their access to legal counsel and other adults.

Judge Brooker chastised Sgt. Sheehan, saying that the tapes show that the police officer was “engaged in a calculated process of strategic manipulation and blatant disregard for the young person's rights to have counsel present.”

Last week, J.R., now 13, sat in the witness box and in a pip-squeak voice told the jury a story that didn't match the one she told Sgt. Sheehan.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070709.whatjury0709/BNStory/Front/

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PenguinBoy

· #7 · Jul 10, 2007

ArtistSeries said:
Seems the police were a little unethical...

So one cop ~may~ have made some minor procedural errors early in the investigation. Big deal. The questionable evidence was ruled inadmissible, and JR was convicted without it.

Leave it to AS to find something to complain about when it comes to the Alberta justice system...

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monokitty

· #8 · Jul 10, 2007

PenguinBoy said:
So one cop ~may~ have made some minor procedural errors early in the investigation. Big deal. The questionable evidence was ruled inadmissible, and JR was convicted without it.]

Bang on.

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gwillikers

· #9 · Jul 10, 2007

Cole Slaw said:
Lars said:

This is no surprise. No where in North America, as far as I can tell, would a 13-year old girl be given an adult sentence even based on a crime just as this.

Well, Lars, you may be right.
I don't claim to have all the answers to an issue like this, but, damn, a sentence like that ( whether it's typical or not) just doesn't seem right to me.
Give her 6 years in kiddie jail, then 10 in real jail. Or something.
But make it more than what she got today.

Click to expand...

Not even in the U.S., where they incarcerate a huge percentage of their population, do they treat kids with equal harshness to adults.
I just saw a documentary... two boys, 11 & 13, shot & killed a teacher and 4 classmates (injuring others) in Arkansas, back in the late 90's. The toughest law the judge could impose was to lock them up until age 21. At that time they were free to go with no criminal record on the books.

Hard to swallow, but in the eyes of the law, kids aren't adults despite how bad an act they commit.

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ArtistSeries

· #10 · Jul 10, 2007

PenguinBoy said:
So one cop ~may~ have made some minor procedural errors early in the investigation. Big deal. The questionable evidence was ruled inadmissible, and JR was convicted without it.

Leave it to AS to find something to complain about when it comes to the Alberta justice system...

What's the matter? The evidence was not enough?

Yes they are procedures to follow - or do you prefer travesties of justice like the Maher Arar case?
I expect the police to follow the law, not break it- or does the end justify the means to you?

PS, no where was Alberta mentionned but if this indicative of "normal" procedures rampant in that province, please tell me.

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teknikz

· #11 · Jul 10, 2007

gwillikers said:
Cole Slaw said:

Not even in the U.S., where they incarcerate a huge percentage of their population, do they treat kids with equal harshness to adults.
I just saw a documentary... two boys, 11 & 13, shot & killed a teacher and 4 classmates (injuring others) in Arkansas, back in the late 90's. The toughest law the judge could impose was to lock them up until age 21. At that time they were free to go with no criminal record on the books.

Hard to swallow, but in the eyes of the law, kids aren't adults despite how bad an act they commit.

Click to expand...

Tell that too

Genarlow Wilson ESPN.com - E-Ticket: Outrageous Injustice

or

Tell that to Marcus DixonThe Case: Lives Changed Forever

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PenguinBoy

· #12 · Jul 11, 2007

ArtistSeries said:
What's the matter? The evidence was not enough?

Obviously the evidence that was admissible was sufficient to obtain a conviction.

ArtistSeries said:
Yes they are procedures to follow - or do you prefer travesties of justice like the Maher Arar case?

I don't think it is a black and white all or nothing proposition. To me, the controversial part of this case sounds like a minor procedural error (i.e., no lawyer present during questioning), not a "travesty of justice like the Maher Arar case".

ArtistSeries said:
I expect the police to follow the law, not break it- or does the end justify the means to you?

I expect the police to follow the law as well, but they are human and make mistakes like the rest of us - especially in the heat of an investigation.

There are checks and balances to prevent abuse, and it seems to me the system worked in this case. A minor error was made, and the "tainted" evidence was deemed inadmissible.

ArtistSeries said:
PS, no where was Alberta mentionned but if this indicative of "normal" procedures rampant in that province, please tell me.

Well, Alberta ~was~ mentioned here: http://www.ehmac.ca/everything-else-eh/53656-judge-only-albertan-could-love.html, and you ~were~ commenting on police procedures in a Alberta case.

FWIW, I imagine police procedures are pretty similar across the country, and mistakes get made in all jurisdictions.

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ArtistSeries

· #13 · Jul 11, 2007

PenguinBoy said:
FWIW, I imagine police procedures are pretty similar across the country, and mistakes get made in all jurisdictions.

Most likely.

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