LEDGER-ENQUIRER, COLUMBUS, GA. www.ledger-enquirer.
com | Sunday, February 7, 2016 |
juveniles FROM A1
grand jury to indict the teen,
though they may seek a 90-
day extension should com-
plications arise, such as de-
lays in getting results of lab
tests on evidence.
Meanwhile the underage
suspect remains incarcerated
in a juvenile detention center,
as incarcerating minors with
adults is prohibited, said Assis-
tant District Attorney Wayne
Jernigan Jr., who handles juve-
nile prosecutions for District
Attorney Julia Slater.
Such protocols are outlined
in Georgias School Safety
and Juvenile Justice Reform
Act of 1994, which autho-
rized prosecuting juveniles
13 or older as adults for vio-
lent crimes. That year in the
Georgia General Assembly,
the legislation was designat-
ed Senate Bill 440, and attor-
neys today still refer to it as
S.B. 440 for short.
In fact, Senate Bill 440 is
written at the top of Burks ar-
restreport.Andthoughthewar-
rant charging a juvenile as an
adult is much the same as an
adult warrant, authorities often
call it a 440 warrant, Jerni-
gan said. It must be signed by
a judge, like any other warrant,
but it also requires that notice
be given to the district attor-
ney, because of that 180-day
In brief
Search for
possible
survivors
of midair
crash
suspended
A5
deadline for indictment.
Designating a juvenile of-
fender an adult is not irrevoca-
ble, Jernigan said. The defense
counsel and prosecutor later
may decide the case belongs in
juvenile court and send it back
by mutual agreement.
Often juveniles get drawn
into crimes by adult offend-
ers who bear the most respon-
sibility, particularly in armed
robberies in which the under-
age suspects role is minimal,
Jernigan said. Though still a
party to the crime under the
law, the minor may have had
little understanding of the dan-
ger and the consequences of
his or her actions.
That is not always the case,
Jernigan said: Sometimes the
juvenile is the hardened crim-
inal who draws an adult into
his violent offense. The system
is designed for such flexibility,
because the facts of each case
differandmayrequiredifferent
methods of adjudication.
Though cases of juveniles
being charged as adults make
headlines, because they in-
volve the most violent crimes,
they remain exceptions to
the rule, Jernigan said. The
vast majority of juvenile of-
fenders stay in the juvenile
justice system. Jernigan said
that even juveniles convict-
ed as adults under S.B. 440
remain incarcerated in the
LOS ANGELES Authoritieson
Saturday called off the search
for survivors of a midair colli-
sion that sent at least one plane
plunging into the ocean near
the Port of Los Angeles and in-
stead turned to hunting bod-
ies and wreckage.
The active search for three
missing people was suspended
at 9:15 a.m., according to a U.S.
Coast Guard statement.
Two men, ages 61 and 81,
were aboard a plane that was
seen on radar colliding with
another aircraft flown by a
72-year-oldwomanaround3:30
p.m. Friday, officials said.
juvenile justice system until
age 17, at which point theyre
transferred to prison.
Columbus residents whove
heard the horrid circumstanc-
es of the three Jan. 4 homi-
cides might ask: Why should
juveniles be treated different-
ly than anyone else accused of
a heinous crime?
They should be treated dif-
ferently because their mental
and emotional development is
not that of an adult for the pur-
pose of determining punish-
ment, said Burks defense at-
torney Jennifer Curry.
The life experiences of a
juvenile differ from an adults.
That may be the catalyst for
their actions. A juvenile may
not understand the perma-
nency of their actions.
The U.S. Supreme Court has
used similar reasoning in limit-
ing the states authority to pur-
sue the most severe penalties
in crimes involving underage
offenders. In the case of Rop-
er v. Simmons, the court ruled
five to four on March 1, 2005,
that the Eighth and Fourteenth
Amendments to the Constitu-
tion forbid executing anyone
whos younger than 18 at the
time of the offense.
For the majority, Justice An-
thony Kennedy wrote, When
a juvenile offender commits a
heinous crime, the state can
exact forfeiture of some of
The first plane was a Beech
35 Bonanza and the second was
a Citabria, said Allen Kenitzer,
a spokesman for the Federal
Aviation Administration.
After reports of the crash,
divers converged on an area
about two miles outside a har-
bor entrance where a small de-
bris field was found. The water
there was 80 to 90 feet deep.
On Friday, divers found
wreckage and a pilots log-
bookfromtheBeechcraft,Coast
Guard Capt. Jennifer Williams
said. No one has heard from
the other plane, authorities
said. Both planes had taken off
the most basic liberties, but
the state cannot extinguish
Though the court ruled states
could not impose mandatory
tionate punishment.
The Miller decision requires
his life and his potential to at- life sentences without parole that courts sentencing young
tain a mature understanding on those who were underage offenders consider the defen-
of his own humanity. at the time of their offense, it dants diminished culpabili-
The justices relied on much did not altogether eliminate ty and heightened capacity for
the same reasoning as they the penalty. change, the court said.
used in prohibiting capital As the court wrote in Mont- But that doesnt mean a low-
punishment for the mentally gomery v. Louisiana, Miller er court cant sentence a ju-
disabled: Those who are im- held that mandatory life with- venile to life without parole,
mature do not have an adults out parole for juvenile homi- the justices wrote: Although
experience or judgment to in- cide offenders violates the Miller did not foreclose a sen-
form their decisions, so they Eighth Amendments prohibi- tencers ability to impose life
are more susceptible to influ- tion on cruel and unusual pun- without parole on a juvenile,
ence and more likely to behave ishments.... By making youth the court explained that a life-
recklessly with no regard for (and all that accompanies it) time in prison is a dispropor-
the consequences. irrelevant to imposition of that tionate sentence for all but
Wrote Kennedy: Retribu- harshest prison sentence, man- the rarest of children, those
tion is not proportional if the datory life without parole pos- whose crimes reflect irrepa-
laws most severe penalty is es too great a risk of dispropor- rable corruption.
imposed on one whose cul-
pability or blameworthiness
is diminished, to a substantial
degree, by reason of youth and
immaturity.Thecourtalsoob-
served that more states lately
have outlawed juvenile execu-
tions or eliminated the death
penalty altogether, signaling
that more people now feel the
deathpenaltyisnotappropriate
for underage offenders.
A more recent Supreme
Court decision, Montgomery
v. Louisana, appeared also to
limit the states authority to sen-
tence juveniles to life without
parole. That six to three deci-
sion, which expanded on the
2012 precedent Miller v. Ala-
bama, was announced Jan. 25.
from the nearby Torrance Air-
port, and both pilots were ex-
perienced, Williams said. All
three people live in the near-
by South Bay area. No names
have been released.
The Los Angeles County
Sheriffs Department was us-
ing sonar and remotely op-
erated underwater vehicles
to search the area where de-
bris and oil were spotted Fri-
day. However, nothing more
had been found by Saturday
afternoon, said Capt. Jack
Ewell of the sheriffs Special
Operations Bureau.
From wire reports