<p>I thought first-degree murder implies premeditation, which I don’t think anybody could reasonably argue was involved in the killing. Aren’t people who botch robberies and end up killing their victims routinely charged with manslaughter? </p>
<p>I don’t have any experience with legal code, so my opinions don’t mean much against those of somebody who does. But I do know that charging a 16-year-old as an adult is ridiculous, and I do know that the statistics overwhelmingly indicate that throwing him in prison for the next 25 years will do nothing but make him even worse of a criminal. </p>
<p>What happened was absolutely murder, and absolutely horrible, and I am still upset about it. But it’s no excuse for being incredibly vindictive towards some poor dumb kid who was trying to be a badass thug and took it too far, and then wondering why the south side is so unsafe in the first place.</p>