By James Anderson, AP
A judge on Friday sentenced a former student to life in prison without parole for a 2019 shooting inside a suburban Denver high school that killed one teenager and injured eight others, telling the defendant he had shown no remorse and had failed to help a devastated community understand his actions.
Devon Erickson, now 20, was convicted in June of 46 charges, including first-degree murder in the death of Kendrick Castillo, an 18-year-old senior hailed as a hero for trying to stop the attack on a classroom at STEM School Highlands Ranch, south of Denver.
Prosecutors said Erickson partnered with fellow student Alec McKinney in the May 7, 2019, shooting. McKinney told investigators that he planned the attack for weeks and intended to target classmates who repeatedly mocked him because he was transgender, according to court documents. Since Erickson was 18 at the time of the attack, he faced a mandatory life sentence.
After a lengthy and emotional hearing in which survivors shared their pain, trauma and disruptions to their lives, Judge Theresa Michelle Slade added hundreds of years of prison time to Erickson’s life sentence for multiple charges of attempted murder and other counts.
Wearing handcuffs, a red-and-white-striped prison suit and a blue mask amid the coronavirus pandemic, Erickson displayed virtually no emotion except for blowing his nose into his mask after sentencing. But just after his parents, sister and grandfather told him they loved him in their testimony, his voice broke when the judge asked if he wanted to speak. He declined.
“I don’t think there is anything I can say to you, Mr. Erickson, that would make any difference,” Slade said, recounting how the shooting had devastated not only those at the school and their families but untold numbers of people beyond the suburban community where the school is located.
The judge said Erickson never tried to explain his actions, leaving a gaping hole for a community seeking at least some sense of closure.
“I don’t believe, Mr. Erickson, at least for now, that it makes a difference to you,” Slade said. “So what you do the rest of your life in prison, that’s not on me. It’s on you.”
McKinney, who was 16 at the time of the shooting, was sentenced to life in prison last year but could become eligible for parole after about 20 years under a program for juvenile offenders.
Erickson and McKinney targeted a classroom of students sitting in the dark as they watched a movie at the end of their senior year. The two entered through separate doors to maximize the number of students they could kill, prosecutors said.
Erickson and McKinney concocted a “victim-hero” plan in which McKinney would either kill himself or be killed by Erickson, prosecutors said.
The shootings stopped when Castillo and two other students, Joshua Jones and Brendan Bialy, charged Erickson, whose gun jammed after he fired four times. A school security guard apprehended McKinney.
Defense attorneys argued that Erickson was pressured into participating by McKinney, who testified against Erickson after pleading guilty last year. The defense also suggested that Castillo was accidentally shot as he pushed Erickson against a wall.
Statements Friday by teachers, former students, their parents and Castillo’s mother and father wove a harrowing picture of lives shattered by enduring trauma, panic attacks, recurring nightmares of gunshots, blood, screams and heavily armed SWAT teams rescuing those in hiding inside the school.
One teacher said she became so frightened of working with older students and worrying about what they might do that she now teaches younger children.
Jones and Bialy, who were shot while helping Castillo subdue Erickson, didn’t hide their disgust.
“He killed Kendrick, and he didn’t care,” Jones said, nearly heaving at the witness stand. “I would implore you to put him in jail for as long as you can.”
“The defendant is a loser,” Bialy said. “He walked into a classroom, armed, with vulnerable students, and he lost.”
Castillo’s parents, John and Maria Castillo, proudly, if painfully, described their son as an only child who was happy — a young man of faith always ready to help others.
“We don’t want to forget Kendrick, but it’s an emotional journey that most people will never understand, and I hope they don’t,” John Castillo said.
Defense attorney David Kaplan insisted that Erickson was “exceptionally remorseful.” Witnesses and family described him as an unselfish and cheerful person who helped others and loved school, a jazz singer who gave lessons to younger students — and someone who fell under the sway of McKinney.
Erickson’s father, Jim Erickson, read aloud the names of those injured and apologized to them, teachers, students, law enforcement and the broader community.
“We pray for these people every day,” he said, crying. “We hope that they can find peace, and we hope that they can find forgiveness — and I know that’s a hard ask, forgiveness.”
At his sentencing last year, McKinney said he did not want leniency. But he also suggested the shooting was Erickson’s idea.
Well that’s a start, but we all KNOW what the best deterrent is don’t we!?
I expect that after the notoriety passes, some Leftist judge will release him from prison.
I would bet within 10 years.
He’ll get passed around the cell block like a box of TicTacs. Hope AIDS gets him.
Within a few weeks he’ll have no teeth and walking funny.
Another useless P.O.S. that probably looks like the demented waste of life my troll is.
Ever notice how so many of those type always seem to look the same?
*Ugh*… 🙁
No matter how much make-up and lipstick you put on a pinche cochino…it’s still a pig.
I notice that THIS one strongly resembles the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern. There’s probably a lesson to be learned in that, but I’m not precisely sure what it might be. /sarc.
Things did not work out as planned for beavis and butthead.
That’s what happens when we accept the gender-dysphoric as sane people. Playing into their psychosis gives them more power to live in self-absorbed delusion. You be crazy without my help or approval, buddy!
“Shot accidentally”…with the intention of murdering multitudes. What a pos.
Complains about being bullied at school for being transgender? What do you think other students do those who are different? Or are even perceived to be different.
Perhaps a lesson can be gleaned from this, after all.
“If you’re voluntarily, excruciatingly ‘different,’ do try not to advertise it in flaming letters 3 feet high at every opportunity; Keep a low profile, don’t flaunt that you are ‘different’ in an exaggerated, flagrant manner, and avoid scheduling all-school assemblies wherein you trumpet the fact that you are weirdly ‘different.’ This includes outlandish costumes, spiky unnaturally-colored hairstyles, and cultivating a vacant, disturbed expression that never changes.”
These few pointers would go a long way in reducing ‘bullying’ of the exotically, terminally strange and threateningly disturbed among us.
How about fixing the culture by raising one’s children not to bully others for being different?
Doesn’t excuse a criminal’s actions, but violent bullying is a real thing.
There’s ‘different,’ and then there’s ‘DIFFERENT.’ Also, the word ‘bullying’ is far overused. Like ‘racism.’ And ‘White Supremacy.’
You stated yourself: ‘Doesn’t excuse a criminal’s actions.’ We have absolutely NO evidence, here, of ‘violent bullying.’ We only have criminal actions by a psychotic, pink-haired Jacinda Ardern lookalike contest winner who offered no explanation for his heinous act.
Sorry, not sorry.
This is so true. What do people expect from kids who can’t even understand their biological gender. It’s a disorder that needs treated not spread like disease. This kid needed help a long time ago and never got it until it was too late for him or his victims.
He’s an unselfish and cheerful person who helped others and loved school, a jazz singer who gave lessons to younger students. He’s a murderer, too. But OMG, the unselfish cheer he had when he gave jazz lessons to those he wasn’t trying to murder? It was off the charts.
Young Adolf Hitler loved his mother, liked to paint landscapes and city scenes, loved dogs, was a vegetarian, never drank ardent spirits nor smoked tobacco, and only invaded the Soviet Union that one time.
No doubt some bleeding heart liberal judge & lawyers for the queer community will get them out of prison in the near future & the college’s will be fighting over them to be instructors.
That’s the danger – he’s a tranny so some progressive pile of feces masquerading as a lawyer will try to paint him as a victim, and a similar POS judge will agree, then reduce his sentence to time served.
He should have been frog marched from the courtroom to a gallows.
These are the sorts of people who will be released from an oppressive penal system to serve in the Peoples Republic Security Forces. Can’t believe Schlichter is still writing. He won’t be able to stay ahead of reality for much longer.
It seems to be catching up quicker now.
Creepy Joe fits right in on the Blue side.
Even better, whatcha bet this McKinney POS will get paid-for tranny services for 20 years or so, hundreds of thousands of taxpayer money going to drugs and services for everything his wee heart desires? Always remembering, if you reward an action you will get more of it. Murder your classmates and be gifted everything you desire.
If they really wanted to hurt the shit head the would sever his supply of Jen Psaki’s hair dye.
Lack of affordable health care and irresponsible parents who give access to deadly weapons are not tolerated in civilized societies except of course in Capitalvania where life is considered cheap and expendable.
Unlike Great Britain who put an end to school shootings in the 1980’s with new gun legislation or Australia during the same time period Capitalvania has ignored the problem of exploding gun violence and just hoped it would go away while enabling it to of course grow worse with every year.
As usual the ignorance of the Far Right is very apparent in all of its sickening bias. Children are not born mass murders they are either made that way by their parents or if they suffer from mental illness do not get the treatment they so desperately need which is often not affordable in a sick society like Capitalvania that puts saving tax money only for the wealthy over affordable health care and of course the value of human life.
Sunday Night 9-19-2021 at 9PM EST CNN presents a special on the rising tide gun violence in America and the role of the NRA. Of course the Far Right will not watch it because they only watch heavily censored Far Right jackbooted propaganda news media outlets like Foxy News which is a one sided news media which rules out discussing controversial issues enabling both sides to present their views.
The 1st Amendment is the most feared Amendment of the Far Right and one they all have vowed to destroy if they succeed in establishing a one party dictatorship with a demagogue like Herr Drumpf and his racist entourage who tore apart American and have succeeded in deeply dividing it for decades to come. This has been the horrific legacy of the Herr Drumpf years and the criminals in the Republican party who helped him achieve his goal of making racism “cool again”. It was like taking off a street sewer plate and watching Nazi rats come pouring out of it that had been imprisoned there since the end of WWII. The result was a rising tide of violence against Jews, Orientals and Latino’s much to the sexual ecstasy of the Far Right Jack Booted Storm troopers like the Proud Boys that want an all white society cleansed of all non-white people with a corresponding 100 ft tall statue of Hitler and Herr Drumpf holding hands who they consider the saviors of the “Master Race”.
Feeding the troll only lets him live longer.
Dreamer.
“irresponsible parents who give access to deadly weapons”
I guess you define “giving access” as having them locked in a safe and allowing teens to break into it while you’re at work. That’s how these teens got the guns
The news report claimed they used only an ax and a crow bar. Obviously the safe was a piece of junk that never should have been bought. In most civilized countries there are specifications for the gun safe that is to be used to store guns. Of course in Capitalvania there is no law demanding safe storage and this was the result of a lack of any meaningful law.
I do give credit for the Parents at least attempting to do the right thing and buy a safe but without the guidance of a Federal Law designating specific approved safes this is what happened, a tragedy that could have been avoided.
Again in Capitalvania life is considered cheap and expendable.
What the fuck are you rambling about again miner?
How bad America sux and how great every other country is.
“..are not tolerated in civilized societies…”
Any nation that restricts firearms/the ability and freedom of citizens to say “NO!” and be able to enforce that word is not civilized.
The governments of those nations you mentioned are pseudo dictatorships and their people/property are not free. The people of GB and Australia are owned/slaves. Civilized they are not. Only a fool would think otherwise.
And only Special Commissar Dacian knows the solution. The Final Solution to gun control is to permanently “cancel” the gun owners.
Lorem ipsum free healthcare amet, consectetur bad parents elit. Mauris a mollis lorem. Sed congue tortor aliquet mi hendrerit, jimi hendrix, non sequitur deadly weapons euismod. Ut vehicula vehiculum vehiculae urna velit, vel hendrerit diam Neil Diamond civilized societies quis. Cras sodales vestibulum massa ac euismod. Mauris pharetra nisi ante, ac fermentum guns laoreet larrokeet ut. Etiam vulputate porttitor diam, non eleifend tortor maximus cheese crackers racism non. Suspendisse Trump ipsum ipsum OrangeManBad. Phasellus ut placerat velit. Etiam ultrices, leo warner brothers et viverra laoreet, Capitalvania turpis pharetra nibh, non maximus Marx Brothers tortor nunc jackbooted thugs vitae tellus. Ut CNN pretium eros. Aliquam erat volutpat. Maecenas NRA lacus laoreet, rhoncus erat et, ronchi stridor wheezing scelerisque nulla. Sed posuere posterior Dacian felis fellates libero, ac/dc Beatles tempor diam maximus consequat kumquat Evil Republicans.
Quisque ultricies quam a dolor Far Right, in condimentum turpis eleifend elephantum. Vivamus felis nulla, semper at tellus sit amet, mattis mattis lacus. Praesent id arcu ac est vestibulum vehicula ultrices vel ante. Donec Herr Drumpf bibendum mi et imperdiet. Curabitur eleifend finibus laoreet. Nunc aliquet euismod leo Republican mollis. In in ligula a turpis turgidity egestas elementum sit amet ac elit. Donec eu Nazism a orci commodo viverra ‘cool again’. In faucibus urna quis tortor semper, vel placerat nibh varius. Morbi porttitor guns est arcu. Morbi at malesuada risus. Phasellus phalluses exciteme vitae odio dolor. Nulla facilisi Mussolini fascisti pax vobiscum.
Sed blandit euismod nunc, sed egestas dui finibus racism eu. In quis tortor luctus, mollis arcu sed, pellentesque enim. Sed volutpat Pat Nixon lacinia cursus. Aliquam convallis malesuada tempor. Aliquam sed approved safes orci justo. Nam mollis vel lorem sed facilisis. Mauris et aliquam sem. Maecenas in auctor nunc, et varius leo. Donec sit amet odio egestas tortor suscipit condimentum Proud Boys.
Curabitur dui augue, rutrum nec orci ut, elementum vestibulum caveat emptor mi. Morbi quis euismod neque. Nam bibendum, arcu id bibendum feugiat, elit ex ornare turpis, id pellentesque erat libero auctor ante. Aenean euismod sit guns amet ipsum id viverra. Nullam rhoncus, Linda Ronstadt, est vel lacinia convallis, elit erat sollicitudin Capitalvania dolor, ornare scelerisque sapien metus et Republicans ipsum. Mauris massa est, elementum vel facilisis sit amet, congue vel risus. Phasellus eget aliquet nulla. Pellentesque eget laoreet nulla. Aliquam Drumpf consequat molestie lobortis. Curabitur pharetra imperdiet malesuada. Duis aliquam sit amet sapien ut sodales. Fusce blandit tortor quis massa faucibus, sed pharetra nisl tristique. Fusce interdum, tellus more dumbstuf at venenatis auctor, mauris magna Trump Bad consectetur lacus, eget blandit massa tellus eget nulla. Phasellus eget consectetur dolor, pie jesu domine dona eis requiem. Clunc.
Quisque leo sapien, White Supremacy congue nec ornare in, volutpat ut elit. In orci eros, luctus sit amet magna id, condimentum sollicitudin nisl. Aenean pulvinar ensignpulver nisi mi, a pulvinar nulla lacinia non. Curabitur mollis leo vel massa lacinia iaculis. Maecenas cursus justo sed lobortis elementum. Vestibulum ante ipsum guns bad primis guns in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia curae; Pellentesque self-flagellation stickum keyboard habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Aliquam molestie molestum small animals commodo urna, vel ultricies sem tristique tristique love me some Minor69er dolor est bibendum hoc cave canem.
I think you made more sense than Dacian does.
I even used some of the same words.
Open and shut cases like this should be death penalty cases.
Oh, the poor transgender. His feelings were hurt because some ignorant assholes ran their mouths instead of their brains. The snowflake thinks that’s justification for mass murder. What he should have done was tell his tormentors that, since they already had their heads up their asses, they should use them to fuck themselves. Transgenders are people first who can and should stand up for themselves. Erickson isn’t a murderer because he’s transgender. He’s a murderer because he’s a coward.
The school was warned it was a hotbed for bullying and that a tragedy was in the making. The School chose to sue the parent that made the complaint and by ignoring the warning that they were not running a professionally run school the tragedy happened. Putting all the blame on the Student tinged with ignorant bigoted hate mongering against a transgender is par for the course from a right wing person like yourself.
Yes its obvious that the perpetrator and mastermind was in need of mental health care and in Capitalvania that is not always affordable because of our total lack of any meaningful and affordable mental health care.
As in most cases the causes of a tragedy are not singular nor are they all cut and dry. The Far Right in their ignorance and their usual political agenda and their usual hateful bigotry ignores all the aspects of the case. The blame here rested with plenty of people, the school board, the principle of the school, the parents, the lack of affordable health care for troubled youth and the lack of any meaningful Federal safe storage laws that would have set standards for the safe to be used to store guns.
The blame is with the individuals who committed the crime. Excuses for bad behavior, blaming everyone and everything else is a distraction from the truth of the matter.
Given the school’s reaction to criticism, it was past time to get the kid out of there. That doesn’t change the fact that Erickson allowed himself to be demoralized by the abuse. I guess no one tried to inculcate in him the attitude, “I’m fine. It’s beneath me to take seriously anything my tormenters say. They do not matter because I am worthwhile and they are worthless.”
You ignore two facts. The student is not an adult and he definitely needed mental health care. The standard ignorant right wing response of “be a man and you can conquer the world” does not many times even apply to adult men with problems let alone immature adolescents.
“Putting all the blame on the Student tinged with ignorant bigoted hate mongering against a transgender is par for the course from a right wing person like yourself.”
Nobody gives a flying f*ck if he’s trans.Why even bring that up? Are you trying to say that because he’s trans, he’s inherently innocent? No. Just, no. His sexuality is entirely irrelevant. Has nothing to do with him walking into a classroom and firing on innocent kids.
I suggest next time before making a complete fool of yourself you bother to read the other outrageous bigoted comments against the transgender student simply because he was transgender. Either you never read any of the other outrageous comments or your reading comprehension is at the 3rd grade level.
Personal attack and doesn’t answer the question.
Dat bussy gettin’ smashed
Well…bye.
“… because he was transgender,….”
did your itty bitty sick twisted feelings get hurt? Awwww…poor baby.
Here’s hoping you will be very frequently popular by force in prison without having to drop the soap, for the rest of your life.
Scum like that should get life. A short life. Maybe 30 very uncomfortable days ending with a rope.
Putin calls them transformers.
Life in prison, ugh, I’d rather be dead.
He’ll be out sooner rather than later, at the pace our justice system is wokifying. Probably decide that he’s a girl now, and cry about how hard it is being in boy jail, and blah blah blah. The only thing that really keeps killers off the street anymore is bullets.
Well, no; Gaining high political office, such as the Presidency or JCOS, gets you a limousine, so you can be driven back and forth to your crimes instead of having to do them on the streets like regular savages.
Sometimes you even get to use drones.
If you dress up like a clown be prepared to be treated like one. If you flaunt being different you will be treated differently. Basically getting the attention you are asking for.
Mental health, like physical health is a thing. Some people need professional help. These two didn’t get any.
Trans whatever is a mental issue. It’s not normal behavior. There is a reason lgbxyz people harm themselves at a higher rate than normal people.
Now they want 4 year olds to decide their gender.
This world is messed up.
Very much on point.
In today’s society, being Gay, or some variant thereof including ‘transsexual,’ which doesn’t exist of course beyond being a mental aberration, does not require the wearing of some obvious identification such as a badge, or a star, or an armband, or anything else. It is a given, of course, that some variation in clothing or hairstyle or the wearing of make-up, for example, is expected, and if not garish, shocking, and ridiculously provoking will very likely not BE provocative and will be largely glossed over UNLESS there is further ‘advertising’ on the part of the ‘different’ person, such as a ‘coming out’–a bizarre concept in the extreme, as nobody else really CARES what one does with their genitalia and bodily orifices in their spare time.
Remarkably, very few heterosexual people feel the need to make public announcements about their sexuality; It is only those who are NOT heterosexual that are compelled to perform some sort of ritual to proclaim to all and sundry, usually uncaring and unconcerned, that they use their naughty bits in some other fashion than as designed. I don’t understand this concept, nor do I understand ‘Gay Pride;’ Is there such a thing as ‘Heterosexual Pride Month’? ‘Dyslexia Pride Month’? ‘Crohn’s Disease Pride Month?’
‘Tis a strange and wonderful world.
I think this happens because of societal pressure and free access to guns. People are choosing the role model of all those who have done similar things and I think they can afford it too. When I wrote the essay about my father as a role model I tried to take only the best traits from him. My work was noticed and asked to be posted as an example on https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/my-role-model-example/ for students. And people who are not even remorseful for killing without even thinking about what they are doing should be restricted from the general public.
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