KENTON, Ohio -- It was intended to be a prank: steal a decoy deer, place it on a country road and watch as motorists swerved to avoid it.
It ended with two teenagers suffering serious injuries when their car hit the decoy and rolled into a ditch.
When a judge ruled this week that two boys - both high school football players - can complete the football season before they serve 60-day sentences at a juvenile detention center, it caused a division in this northwest Ohio city.
On one side are those who say allowing Dailyn Campbell, a 16-year-old quarterback, and 17-year-old teammate Jesse Howard to play shows that football players get preferential treatment.
On the other are those who say either the boys deserve another chance or that they will stay out of trouble if they're part of the team.
"I don't know why it's about football players. Why isn't it about student council or track?" Howard asked. "He admitted what he did and he faced the consequences like a young man should."
School Superintendent Doug Roberts said the crash has drawn attention because the emphasis the news media and the community placed on football.
Authorities say a group of teenagers stole the two-legged decoy deer from a yard, rigged it so it would stand and placed it in the road on Nov. 18. The decoy was at the top of a hill on the curving road, Roby said, and he didn't see it until it was right in front of his car.
"I panicked and swerved to go around it," he said. Roby's seat belt gave way, his head broke the car's sun roof and he fell to the ground. He heard his passenger, Dustin Zachariah, hit the ground. Prosecutors say Zachariah, now 18, suffered brain damage.
(Emphasis mine)
Roby is recovering from broken bones in his neck, arm and leg. He spent about three months in a neck brace and has had 10 surgeries. He faces one more surgery on his leg and said he hopes soon to return to the University of Northwestern Ohio.
"It's been a long tunnel, but it's getting shorter," he said.
Howard and Campbell are to remain on house arrest once released, pay fines, perform community service and each write an essay titled "Why I Should Think Before I Act." Trials are pending for three other defendants.
Howard's mother, Valerie Berry of Ashland, Ky., said her son has a strong support system and will be able to move on.
"With this stunt he was a child," she said. "He's an adult now."
Seriously, what is wrong with these people? They severely injured one, brain damaged another, and all they get is fines, community service, and an essay? After that, they have a 60 day sentence? And on top of that, they get to finish out their football season?
I don't understand at all. I realize they won't be tried as adults because they're under 18, but this seems like a slap on the wrist to me. Why is the judge letting them finish their football season, of all things? And why are some people supporting this sentence?
and each write an essay titled "Why I Should Think Before I Act."
Hahahahahahahahaha...seriously. Are they 4 years old?!?!
They shouldn't be allowed to finish the season, and they shouldn't be allowed to participate in the next season. Take away what they like doing....lol.
Damn it. Does this judge really think this is going to do the job?
They did something REALLY stupid and innocent people were harmed. Allowing them to continue playing does little more than reinforce the idea that being an athelete will allow you to get special treatment. Screw their football season. Screw their school/social lives. Lock the fools up for the year with nothing but their textbooks and homework assignments to keep them company, that's what I say.
I guarantee they'll think twice before they do anything like that again.
Vigilante justice! Yeah! Using outliers to show a trend! Yeah! Fuck rationale and being civilized, let's bring back lynch mobs and justice of the masses!
But only as long as we get to lynch the fucking Irish.
The "non-punishing" of Americas youth is really paying off, huh, Panda. These kids should have gotten their asses whipped a few times as youngsters, been grounded a few more times as young teens, and still be in the detention center now. Well, if the first two had happened, the last probably wouldn't be needed.
I think the football player thing had a lot to do with it. Wonder what would have happened if their trial was held in another town somewhere a few counties over. That way the Judge is not influenced by his hometown. He would surely have been the least popular Official in town had he done what was right. At least they (the families of the injured) would have gotten a little justice.
I'd also be at the head of a HUGE CIVIL SUIT filed against their parents. They of course, are parttially to blame for this by letting their kids misunderstand right from wrong. Maybe thinking about how your actions affect others would be a better way to describe it.
The actual realization that what you do affects others even unrealated in the situation is a piece that's missing from the minds of a lot of todays younger generation.
For instance: I get up at 5am , my kids start their morning off at 6am, my wife doesn't get up till 7am. The other day the girls alarm goes off...they start arguing over who turns it off. While the 14yr old shuts off the alarm, the 16yr old makes it to the bathroom for the shower first.(locking the door behind her) This causes the 14 yr old to begin pounding on the door like the DEA during a raid, with the yelling included. I turn around and tell her to suck it up, deal with it, BE QUIET your mother is still sleeping. So what does she do? Shre stands next to our bedroom door and starts to relate the entire episode back to me, (at full volume), like I had never spoken, or seen it happen for that matter.(I was only 12 feet away the whole time). Needless to say, Mom got up early that morning, and was in a pretty shitty mood the rest of the day. After several attempts over the past couple days, I still cannot make her see this occurence as selfish and uncaring towards her mother. She actually thinks I'm making it up. I finally gave up when the image of me choking her out like Homer does Bart entered my mind. The whole thing is a little off subect, I know. But where has common courtesy gone today?
90% of the time when I've heard of delayed sentances it will be often be defendants who are considered to be addicted to something, but were arrested for relatively minor charges.
What the judge will do, is make an agreement that, if the subject successfully completes a drug rehab program his sentance will be reduced by half, but if he drops out he'll face the full sentance, now most jails dont have drug rehab programs, so the sentance will be delayed while he attends the program.
I've also heard of examples where in cases of property damage, (IE usually stupid kid shit that went wrong) the judge made a deal where if the defendant can make full restitution within a certian time period, his sentance will be reduced or eliminated, however, that means delaying the sentance while he attempts to meet those conditions.
In this particular case, at least from the articles, the judge had said someting about the rehabilitative nature of football. which reasoning I might see, I mean hell, at my highschool if football players misbehaved the teachers rarely did something offical, they just told the coach, and boy did we pay for it.
however, that seems to be countered by the fact that this is a football crazy town where the highschool wins state championships regularly. That makes the whole thing seem a little shady.
I think the parents of the convicted kids should serve time, and the kids should be given up to some family in a third-world country. Death won't solve anything in this case, and the parents need to be made an example of how retarded it is to raise your kids under the impression that life is some sort of sick and twisted joke where your actions have no consequences.
I think the parents of the convicted kids should serve time
Because obviously parents are the sole proprietors of the socialization of their children! I mean media and friends and government and religion and social class and all of those other primary and secondary agents of socialization have no influence whatsoever on the actions of these two football players.
the parents need to be made an example of how retarded it is to raise your kids under the impression that life is some sort of sick and twisted joke where your actions have no consequences.
and thereby letting the slackass community that values football over human injuries and wrongdoing get away scot free. "It takes a village to raise a child"... or in otherwords, its not only the parents fault that these 2 did what they did. i mean think about it.
I'm only doing this as a devils advocate, I'm not in any way trying to diminish the seriousness of the injury that was suffered,
that being said, I think a lot of people are taking this way too seriously.
I think this is rather clearly in the category of stupid kid shit. Their act wasnt malicious, they werent doing it intending to hurt someone, they were just reckless, they just didnt think , and they didnt think that someone might be seriously injured because of what they were doing.
Their act was stupid and reckless and they deserve to be punished, and the delayed sentance aside, I think their punisment was more or less adequite. A couple months in jail is enough to give these kids a hard shock and probably change their lives around.
And remeber, there is almost certianly still a civil suit in this case, that's a seperate thing, but the parents and the kids are most likely going to be paying a massive settlement to provide for the injured parties.
All in all I think "pranks" get too little punishment. Sure a prank is good fun but when something goes wrong they plead that they are innocent because they did not realize the consequnces of their actions. I say any prank that results in physical or (on special occasion) phsycological harm or a certain level of dmage to goods should be treated just as harshly as any other crime.
In this case I'd say charge the kids with attempted murder (never would actually happen but I for one agree with excessive punishment), they knew full well that their actions could have resulted in the injury or possible deaths of those drivers on that road. Seriously if what they were doing resulted in permanent brain damage to a victim then I'd say the risk they presented warrants something heavier than a slap on the risk along with it not impacting their football futures. I'm sure those occupants of the cars had things they wanted to do before they had to go into surgery so there is no reason why they should not be as inconvenianced as their victims.
We can't give people special treatment. Regardless. It's not a punishment for them to be on the team and out of trouble - far from it. However, two months jailtime is fair - it should be immediatly, not after the season is up.
Vigilante justice! Yeah! Using outliers to show a trend! Yeah! Fuck rationale and being civilized, let's bring back lynch mobs and justice of the masses!
But only as long as we get to lynch the fucking Irish.
Something I was reading for a class today made me think of this in a slightly different light.
Now, it seems most people agree that the judge delaying the sentance wasnt the best idea.
Now, what would make it an acceptable idea?
What if the judge were to say "all right, I'll delay your sentances, but for every day your sentance is delayed, you'll face one additional day?"
Or perhaps more interstingly, the judge allows them to continue the season only if they agree to undergo some sort of additional physical punishment (IE punisment runs or something) every day as part of football practice curtesy of their coach and under the condition that if they stop preforming it they immidiately serve their sentances.
in anyones opinion would either of these have satisfied you on the judge delaying the sentance?
I say the judge delays their sentence under the condition that they finish the season with their team and they must sit on the bench the entire time and watch the players who used to be their backups start. Maybe that will get it through their heads what morons they were being.
These kids should have gotten their asses whipped a few times as youngsters, been grounded a few more times as young teens, and still be in the detention center now. Well, if the first two had happened, the last probably wouldn't be needed.
