Murderer Eric Hainstock
Here's the question:
Should Eric Hainstock be tried as an adult for the murder of Weston High School Principal John Klang, or should Hainstock be waived into juvenile court?
Yesterday was Day 4 of the hearings to determine the answer.
From the Baraboo News Republic, Christina Beam writes:
With the blood of Weston Principal John Klang still on his hands, 15-year-old Eric Hainstock confessed to investigators the morning of Sept. 29 that he meant to pull the trigger when he shot Klang three times at close range, but he did not mean to kill him.
In an hour-long interview taped at 10:30 the morning of the shooting, Hainstock, dressed in the same dark hooded sweatshirt and athletic pants he wore to school that day, sits slumped against the wall. He answers questions about the shooting bluntly and in a matter-of-fact tone.
"It looks like you have some blood on your hands there," Department of Justice Special Agent Elizabeth Feagles notes to him at one point.
"And on my shirt," Hainstock said.
"Can you explain how that happened?" Feagles asked.
"It's blood from the principal," Hainstock said. Then later, he asks, "Can I wash my hands?"
The tape was shown in its entirety in Sauk County court Friday during the fourth day of a hearing on whether Hainstock, now 16, should be waived into juvenile court for the crime or tried as an adult. Judge Patrick Taggart's ruling could mean the difference between Hainstock serving a life sentence or being released back into society at age 25.
Hainstock defense attorney Rhoda Ricciardi objected to the screening of the video in court, saying the detailed transcript should suffice.
But Taggart said it's been reported that Hainstock's expression is "flat" during the confession.
"I believe there are things on the video that I can't see in the transcript," he said.
...In the video time-stamped just a few hours after the shooting, Feagles asked Hainstock if he wanted to kill the principal, and he said no.
"What was this about pulling the trigger?" she asked.
"I just freaked out," he said.
...Earlier in the hearing Friday, Hainstock's special ed teacher James Nowak testified he came out of his classroom and saw Hainstock threatening Klang with the revolver.
...Thompson, heralded as a hero for seizing the shotgun from Hainstock, said he heard Hainstock say, "I'm here to (expletive) kill somebody" when he first came through the doors.
...In the video confession, Hainstock said he only remembered telling school staff to get in the office that morning.
He had planned to "take off" after the incident, he said.
"Do you wish this hadn't happened?" Feagles asked him.
"I don't know," he said. "I'm tired."
Also in the video, Hainstock said that he had complained to Weston officials for years about being bullied and called names.
He thought bringing guns to school would "make them listen."
I don't think there's any question that schools do a horrible job of addressing the bullying problem.
I don't know how Weston handled Hainstock's concerns, but generally speaking, bullying is not taken seriously enough for schools to come down hard on the bullies.
That's inexcusable. The results, in rare cases, can be deadly.
No student should be subjected to torture at school, day in and day out.
That said, no student should bring a gun to school to threaten anyone.
No human being should murder another in cold blood.
Hainstock chose to pull the trigger three times.
A 15-year-old knows that shooting the principal is wrong.
A 15-year-old understands what it means to die.
Hainstock is a sociopath. You can debate on how he got to be an individual capable of murder. You can assign blame and engage in finger-pointing and depict him as abused.
That really doesn't matter.
What matters is there's no question that Hainstock poses a threat to society.
Remember, three shots. That's no accident.
To waive him into juvenile court would be a travesty of justice.
He must be tried as an adult.
Being 15-years-old and being a victim of bullying do not give one license to victimize.
Actions have consequences.
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