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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| Teens Get 3-1/2 to 9 Months For Murdering Tuba Player |
| 2009-04-27 |
| Three teens who beat to death Ed McMichael, better known as the "Tuba Man," were sentenced to 15-36 weeks in juvenille detention on Wednesday. Kenneth Kelly, 15, Billy Chambers, 16, and Ja'Mari Jones, 16, will be given credit for the roughly 24 weeks they've already spent in custody. The teens pleaded guilty April 3 to first-degree manslaughter in King County Juvenile Court. Because they are not legally adults, none could face a sentence longer than 72 weeks in juvenile detention. Chambers and Jones were also sentenced to 36 weeks in detention for an unrelated robbery, and the two sentences were ordered to run consecutively. McMichael, a beloved character on the Seattle scene who played his tuba outside many public events, was walking home near a bus stop on Seattle's Mercer Street last Oct. 25 when five teens attacked him. Police said the five kicked and beat him and tried to rob him. Three suspects were caught, but two others ran off and still have not been found. King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said the names of convicted juveniles are not released in most criminal cases. But the suspects were identified in this case due to the high-profile nature of the crime, he said. The killing was a traumatic event for many in the city of Seattle, where Tuba Man was a beloved fixture who played before and after sporting events and other performances. He was attacked outside the Opera House, literally in the shadow of the Space Needle. There was a five-month delay in the case because no witnesses came forward to testify, even though it's believed that up to a dozen people saw the brutal attack last fall. A police officer drove up to the scene and saw McMichael in the fetal position trying to protect himself. The officer was able to capture and arrest two of the attackers, but three others got away. McMichael was treated at Harborview Medical Center and sent home. He was recovering at the Vermont Inn where he lived when he died two days later. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #9 If they'd emailed somebody pictures of themselves nekkid they'd have been tried as adults. |
| Posted by: Fred 2009-04-27 19:24 |
| #8 Seems like they could be tried as adults if a prosecutor brought it before a judge. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2009-04-27 18:30 |
| #7 Heinlein had the answer. When children commit crimes, you flog them in the public square. At the same time, you flog their parents right along side of them. What really saddens me though, is the shift in populations seems to be heading toward the sort of future that Pournelle had in his CoDominium Universe, there was citizens...who were kept happy with free drugs, rent and food from the government, with no real hope of getting out and Taxpayers. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2009-04-27 14:41 |
| #6 their parents should spend time in detention as well. |
| Posted by: Be responsible 2009-04-27 13:42 |
| #5 Hate Crime? |
| Posted by: bman 2009-04-27 12:13 |
| #4 Because they are not legally adults, none could face a sentence longer than 72 weeks in juvenile detention. They should have been charged as adults. Their parents pay as well. |
| Posted by: Kofi Claitle6576 2009-04-27 11:25 |
| #3 if they was big enough too beat a man too death then they are big enough too do some real time behind bars. What's bad is some of them where convisted of another robbery and got 36 weeks too run consecutively which means they don't get shit for it. I don't anyhting about the laws in Washington but sounds like someone needs too change the age when someone can be charged as an adult in violent crimes like these. |
| Posted by: rabid whitetail 2009-04-27 11:09 |
| #2 Just remember this event when the usual suspects play a guilt card with the line 'what is a human life worth'. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-04-27 11:01 |
| #1 Ja'Mari Jones? Now there's an Amish name with great promise written all over it. We should all be looking for great things from this young man in the future. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-04-27 10:35 |