Thurston High School shooter Kip Kinkel seeking shorter sentence

[Nika]

It’s been nearly 15 years since Thurston High School student Kip Kinkel fatally shot his parents and two classmates and wounded 25 others.

Now Kinkel’s lawyer is asking a state judge to toss out his nearly 112-year sentence, based on a ruling last summer by the U.S. Supreme Court that dealt with mandatory life in prison without parole for juveniles.

Kinkel, now 30, was just 15 when the unthinkable hit home in Lane County on May 21, 1998. After killing his parents, William Kinkel, 59, and Faith Kinkel, 57, in their rural Springfield home the night before, he opened fire with a rifle in Thurston’s cafeteria the next morning.

His rampage claimed the lives of 17-year-old Mikael Nickolauson and 16-year-old Ben Walker. It also altered hundreds of other lives, from shooting victims and their families to students, staff and emergency workers who experienced the event.

Kinkel agreed to accept a plea deal to serve 25 years for the fatal shootings. However, a judge sentenced him in November 1999 to 111 years and eight months without the possibility of parole, factoring in time for attempted murder counts.

http://registerguard.com/rg/news/local/29791788-75/kinkel-court-state-oregon-parole.html.csp

Eugene Springfield is an extremely liberal metro area, but I don't see Mr. Kinkle as rating a reduction in his sentence for these crimes.

[MichiganVote]

1. So, he accepts (albiet w/counsel) a 25 yr sentence, even tho' he says he was mentally ill

at the time. Gets a much longer sentence from a diff. judge. Spends 15 years in prison, with appeals through the years saying he should really be in the looney bin. But now he asserts he is safe to live among civilians in society? If that is so, must be some powerful mental health cure in the penal system. Setting aside the sentence from the alternate judge-the original court found him sane and Kinle agreed to 25 years. Seems to me, that is and will be the minimum of what he will serve.

[Nika]

2. The whole thing started because he was freaked out Dad was going to take his gun from him

he had begged him to buy for him to use.

His parents relented and got him a gun to target shoot with to appease him. He was later expelled for bringing a gun to school. So, he killed his parents at home and brought a gun to school a second time to murder. IT has been a while since I read up on this local case, but I believe I am remembering this right.

I don't want to see him released anytime soon. As far as I am concerned, his sentence as is is fine by me.

[MichiganVote]

4. seems the parents should have stuck w the original choice. lesson for the rest of us

[REP]

5. Not quite

On May 20, 1998, Kinkel was suspended pending an expulsion hearing from Thurston High School for being in possession of a loaded, stolen handgun. A friend of Kinkel's had stolen a pistol from the father of one of his friends and arranged to sell the weapon to Kinkel the night before. Kinkel paid $110 ($154.94 when adjusted for inflation) for the Beretta Model 90 .32-caliber pistol loaded with a 9-round magazine, which he then placed in a paper bag and left in his locker. When the father discovered he was missing a handgun, he reported it to the police and supplied the names of students he believed might have stolen the firearm. Kinkel's name was not on the list. The school became aware of his possible involvement and questioned him. When he was checked for weapons, he reportedly stated: "Look, I'm gonna be square with you guys; the gun's in my locker." Kinkel was suspended pending an expulsion hearing from Thurston High School, and he and his friend were arrested. Kinkel was released from police custody and driven home by his father.

At home that afternoon, Kinkel was told by his father that he would be sent to boarding school if he did not change his behavior. At 3:30 p.m., Kinkel retrieved his locked-up rifle from his parents' bedroom, loaded it, and went to the kitchen, where he shot his father in the back of the head.
He waited for his mother to come home. About 6 p.m., as she walked up the stairs from the garage, Kinkel shot her twice in the back of the head, three times in the face, and once in the heart.
He later stated that he had wanted to protect his parents from the embarrassment that his expulsion would have caused them.
Wikipedia

[Nika]

6. Thanks for posting that, it had been a while since this happened here.

[aikoaiko]

3. I'm OK with reducing the sentence to..

..100 years.

[whistler162]

7. Even 20 years per murder

and 5 for possession of a stolen gun served one after the other sounds fine!