Following little Jacob Hall’s passing Saturday afternoon, due to fatal injuries sustained during the shooting at Townville Elementary School in Anderson, SC, I am calling on the South Carolina Legislature to hold his murderer accountable.
We must take steps to dissuade future minor-aged perpetrators from committing such crimes by stiffening the penalties.
The SC General Assembly should, in the coming session, adopt “Jacob’s Law” to try any teenage murder offender – who kills another minor child – as an adult in a criminal court of General Sessions.
This automatic reclassification as an adult for a murder trial will provide greater deterrence for minor offenders to commit such senseless acts of violence.
Jacob Hall’s killer was fully aware of what he was doing when he fired into an elementary school playground. His innocence as a minor before the law ended the moment he chose to take the life of a six year old little boy.
The events surrounding young Jacob’s death are tragic. Somehow, though, I believe that the furthest thing from Jesse Osborne’s mind at the time of the shooting was his standing in the court. His actions do not appear to be those of a rational person making rational decisions, therefore the justification for Mr. Kimbrell’s proposed legislation is suspect at best. Mr. Kimbrell is blatantly following the adage of never letting a tragedy go to waste and is a politician in the worst sense of the word.
Yes, please work to pass the Jacon’s law.
I would agree to this judicial move rather than move to take the 2nd Amenment away thus taking my right to protect me when I need it.
Would prosecution as an adult mean that a teen would be incarcerated in an adult prison (already drastically overcrowded) with hardened criminals? They would teach him everything he would need to know to become one of them.
It may not be possible to rehabilitate a young person in this situation, but I don’t want to make him worse. I doubt he had any intent to kill a child. He may just have taken out his frustration in this destructive act. We need to avoid over-reactions. Keep him in a court for young people, not an adult court.