Boys, 8 and 9, charged in shooting death of S. Carolina man
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
WESTMINSTER, S.C. (AP) — An 8-year-old and a 9-year-old boy have been charged with killing a man who was shot with a rifle while cutting down brush in a South Carolina field, authorities said.
Both boys shot at Danny Andrew Smith with a rifle as he rode his tractor in the field near Westminster on June 23, Oconee County Sheriff Mike Crenshaw said in a statement .
Smith, 62, was shot once in the back, but investigators charged both boys because they both fired the gun in Smith's direction, Crenshaw said.
The boys are charged as juveniles in Family Court and their names were not released. Under South Carolina law, they are too young to be kept at a juvenile jail so they were released to their parents, the sheriff said.
Deputies have the .22 caliber rifle used to kill Smith, but Crenshaw said investigators are not releasing how the boys got the rifle or why they shot at Smith.
Smith's wife found him slumped over in the driver’s seat of his tractor after it ran into woods and struck a tree. An autopsy found he had been shot in the back about four to six hours before his body was found.
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First of all. WTF!!
Second while you obiously can't jjail or execute children of this age you also cannot allow them to go unpunished. So I think a reasonable compromise would be to ground them for 10 years and then exectute them
You place them in a juvenile detention facility until they are 18 and then move them to an adult prison for life.
That would work for me as well Paula
They're 8 and 9 so they aren't going to jail they're just to young to be held responsible. Who's gun was it and why did they have it unsupervised. I would recommend charging them with manslaughter and giving them probation till they're 30. They'll never be able to legally own a gun or live in a house where guns are kept and if they screw around while on probation they'll end up in jail. It's easy to imagine these kids are evil but that's just your imagination, they are likely just really really stupid kids who unfortunately had access to a gun.
Lol I don't think this is it as over the years, decades and centuries many really really stupid kids have had access to guns and not done this (that I know of). No there's some other reason.
There's a lot we don't know about the kids or the crime but what we do know is 9 years old is a forth grader and unless he turns ten by Sept he probably just completed the third grade. There might be some other reason but what's more likely pure stupidity or pure evil ? I just can't see what good putting kids this age in jail will accomplish besides turning them into life long criminals, supervised probation and counseling seems a better choice.
It has been done before.
Not even a little bit of jail for them? Say just enough to put the fear of god into tthem.
They were arrested and questioned I'm sure that was scary and hopefully got their asses tanned when they got home. There's just no justice to be had with this case given the ages of the kids. We want to punish people who commit crimes like this but two wrongs don't make a right. If they were 12 and 13 I'd say put them in juvenile detention, if they were 15 and 16 I'd say try them as adults but they're 8 and 9 so their punishment is going to have to be a little unconventional. Maybe counseling three times a week and visit a probation officer every other week. I'm sure their lives are going to be quite unpleasant for a long while as this goes to court not to mention they're going to be like lepers in their community.
You are of course correct, but there's nothing wrong with venting about it
There are at least 2,225 child offenders serving life without parole sentences in U.S prisons for crimes committed before they were age 18.
RIP Mr. Smith.
From what I understand if they are tried in family court they can only be jailed (juvenile) until they are 18 or 21 depending on the state. That isn't right, but the way the laws are that is exactly what might happen.
No I don't believe it is
This was posted three days ago? I guess the gun-fun members pushed it off the page while I was asleep. What shocks me is that NOT ONE PERSON has commented on the fact that perhaps the PARENTS should be held responsible for allowing their young children to have deadly weapons, or at least have access to them. Mrs. Smith should sue the ass off of them.
I was gonna comment on the parent angle, just never got around to it. I wish Mrs Smith the best of luck if she pursues a lawsuit
Keep in mind this is South Carolina...... One of the "shoot shit up" states.
I'm with Buzz, Mrs. Smith should go after the parents on this one. I'm sure there would be a law firm that will take this pro-bono..