High School Kid Sentenced To 15 Years For Plotting To Do His Own Columbine

Formaldehyde

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Teen accused of Freedom High bomb plot sentenced to 15 years

TAMPA — Circuit Judge Kimberly Fernandez saw two sides to the young man before her in court Wednesday.

One, a confused teenager, who tearfully begged for a second chance. Someone who had not actually hurt anyone, who asked the judge not to make him the "poster child for something evil."

The other, an 18-year-old with a "severe level of disturbance and pervasive anger," according to Fernandez. Someone who had plotted a massacre at Freedom High School and was a danger to the community.

The judge wanted to strike a balance between the boy before her and the risks he posed.

She sentenced Jared Cano to 15 years in prison.

Fernandez said it was one of the most difficult rulings she has had to make.

Cano looked up at the ceiling and cried. His 16-year-old sister screamed and sobbed.

Cano's grandfather shook his head.

"He's not going to be the same person in 15 years," Michael Butler said outside the courtroom. "You can kiss him off."

Cano's private attorney, family and rabbi had asked the judge to send Cano to a juvenile treatment program.

He was 16 when police arrested him and accused him of planning to bomb Freedom's cafeteria and shoot others at the New Tampa school. The Department of Juvenile Justice could hold him until he turns 22.

Defense attorney Norman Cannella Sr. explained that Cano did not have all the necessary materials to make a bomb. It was just fantasy, Cannella said.

A psychologist testified that Cano's threats were likely bravado because, though he had a history of making threats, Cano never was violent. Psychologist Richard Carpenter suggested a mental health treatment program.


A psychiatrist appointed by the court earlier had recommended a "long term, secure treatment program."

Judge Fernandez said she understood Cano has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which might explain some of his impulsivity.

"What is troubling is when you have that impulsivity and you combine it with anger and hostility," she said, "it cooks up a recipe, in my mind, for a very dangerous individual."

State law mandates that an adult must serve 85 percent of his sentence. Because Cano has already been in jail for 15 months, he could get out in 11 1/2 years.

People who have killed others — defendants in DUI manslaughter cases — have gotten significantly less prison time.

The Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office had asked for 25 years.

Cano has 30 days to appeal the sentence.

Police arrested Cano on Aug. 16, 2011, and confiscated from his bedroom a journal, bombmaking materials and cell phone videos in which he describes a plot to bomb Freedom in April 2012 and shoot "any survivors," including two assistant principals.

The state charged him as an adult, and in October, he pleaded no contest to five counts:

• Threatening to discharge a destructive device.

• Attempting to make, possess, throw, place, project or discharge a destructive device with intent to harm.

• Several drug charges related to the marijuana plant and pipes police found in his room.

Cano faced up to 37 years in prison if the judge had given him the maximum time for each charge.

At the beginning of the sentencing hearing, Assistant State Attorney John Terry played a 13-minute video of several of Cano's cell phone recordings, which he made shortly before he was arrested.

Prosecutors had previously released them as public record. It was not the first time Cano had heard them, either.

As the judge watched a television screen, Cano sat on a wood bench and bent over so he could cover his ears with his hands, though his wrists were shackled.

His sister cringed as Cano could be heard describing his plans down to the minute.

"The bombs blow at 7:26," he said. "Then I'm going to advance on the courtyard."

Later, his sister, Allie Cano, testified.

"That's not my brother," she said.

Cano's mother, sister and maternal grandparents spoke of a bright, though immature, boy who suffered a scary childhood.

Cano had grown up afraid of his father, who they said was emotionally and physically abusive. He was also scarred by the fact his mother left for eight months to get treatment for herself when he was 9.

"Jared has such a loving heart, and he's such a bright young man," said his mother, Michelle Cano. "He's gotten his GED since he's been in jail. . . . He's taught himself Spanish. He wants to go to college.

"I know with the proper treatment he can get help, so he can be a normal, productive member of society."

Cano spoke in court, too.

He said in high school, things started falling apart. He was expelled from Freedom in March 2010 when he was arrested for stealing a firearm from a friend's apartment.

He was kicked out of another school after he was caught selling marijuana, he said, and he was expelled from a third school in December 2010.

Cano says he started thinking, "I'm just a piece of crap. I can't do anything right."

He became depressed. He remembers wanting to die.

"I was just so angry, I started blaming everybody else," he said.

Violent images filled his mind. When he closed his eyes, he saw destruction.

It would not stop, he said.

"I don't really know how it all came to be," he said in court. "It just ended up like this."

He said the day he was arrested was the happiest of his life.

"It gave me a chance to look back," he said. "I can still get a job, I can still go back to school."

He asked the judge to give him a chance.

"Don't make me the poster child for something evil," he said. "Let me be the poster child for something good."

But as the judge started to speak, it quickly became apparent that she was not going to pass down a light sentence.

Cano started tearing up. A bailiff braced his back. Cano's sister and mother held each other.

Michael Butler said he did not know what to expect for his grandson.

Just not this.

He is afraid of what Cano could face in prison. Butler's wife, Judy Butler, said she does not expect Cano will get the mental health therapy he needs.

"He needs mental health counseling now," she said, "while he's still developing."
Is it sufficient for an emotionally disturbed teen to essentially fantasize about committing such deplorable acts to warrant a 15 year prison sentence, much less the 25 year one that the prosecutor wanted?

Or should such individuals get long-term psychiatric counseling instead?
 
You should be happy, Form! Now the Militarized Police that you always talk about during Shootings can't kill him!
 
I'm sure all those years of hard prison time will make this emotionally disturbed young man a better more stable person. It always does you know.
 
Police arrested Cano on Aug. 16, 2011, and confiscated from his bedroom a journal, bombmaking materials and cell phone videos in which he describes a plot to bomb Freedom in April 2012 and shoot "any survivors," including two assistant principals.

The cell phone video is pretty damning in terms of "attempt" particularly the details of the plan, which is why the prosecutor felt comfortable shooting for 25 years. And long term care in a secure facility would be a slightly more nicer option than prison but with almost no chance of ever being released.

I sympathize, but there's too much to argue that there wasn't attempt unfortunately.

The better question than, "Why is the sentence so harsh?" (We know why), is "Why wasn't his problems identified earlier?" and if the school and society offered suffice psychological counseling and other services for the disturbed. (Yeah those programs are cheaper than prison)

Does the article say if he's eligible for parole?
 
I take it you never fantasized about doing something stupid to exact revenge on someone when you were a kid, albeit on a typically less grandiose scale?

If we use this basis to either lock people away in prisons or mental health facilities for the rest of their lives before they even commit actual violent crimes, we are going to need far larger prisons and institutions than we have now. Thought crime is pervasive in our society.

And again, I couldn't agree more with Bugfatty.
 
It's not "Minority Report" because he was actually going through the process of doing this.
Had someone prevented that Laughner or whatever his name was, in AZ, from carrying through with his psychotic plan, it would have been better for a lot of people... Now this kid clearly needs severe counseling... It's good to ID those that are crazy and aiming to kill...

Do we have to wait for the bomb to go off??
NO! The possession of bomb making material is a crime, and that's one of the charges... he didn't get charged with murder because he didn't murder anyone.

It's a thin line, but this kid was a threat... I support his being taken out of society...
 
This is the sort of thing that happens in a society where liberalism has gained sway.
 
The better question than, "Why is the sentence so harsh?" (We know why), is "Why wasn't his problems identified earlier?" and if the school and society offered suffice psychological counseling and other services for the disturbed. (Yeah those programs are cheaper than prison)
Absolutely this. Many times this.

Shouldn't there be an inquiry into why this wasn't identified earlier?
 
OK, so he didn't have all the necessary materials, may or may not have actually intended to kill anyone, and the main evidence was a phone conversation?

This shouldn't be written off as a non-issue by any means, but 15 years seems excessive.
 
I take it you never fantasized about doing something stupid to exact revenge on someone when you were a kid, albeit on a typically less grandiose scale?

If we use this basis to either lock people away in prisons or mental health facilities for the rest of their lives before they even commit actual violent crimes, we are going to need far larger prisons and institutions than we have now. Thought crime is pervasive in our society.

And again, I couldn't agree more with Bugfatty.

Most certainly I have. I have said to friends how I would like to burn the law school down on more than one occasion.

What I have not done however, is:
(1) Create a video detailing the specifics in how I would go about committing that crime
(2) Gathering materials to allow me to commit the crime (kerosene, molotov cocktails etc...)
(3) Made a target list

One of those by themselves might have been insufficient to show attempt. But the three of those together are probably enough to show intent that makes it a true threat rather than mere hyperbole. It's not an offhand comment that's being punished here. It's the attempt to commit mass murder.

When:
1. Actor possesses materials to be used in the commission of a crime
2. At or near the scene of the crime
3. Where the possession of those materials can serve no lawful purpose of the actor under circumstances

• Jury entitled to but not required to find that substantial step has been taken toward commission of crime if action is corroborative of actors overall criminal purpose. Course of conduct planned to culminate in commission of crime.


The alternative is that you tie the hands of the police, you can't wait to tackle the guy when he's at the school doors. That's not really something we consider good policing.
 
This shouldn't be written off as a non-issue by any means, but 15 years seems excessive.

Thank goodness we have a government to protect us from theoretical lunatics!
 
(2) Gathering materials to allow me to commit the crime (kerosene, molotov cocktails etc...)

<snip>

3. Where the possession of those materials can serve no lawful purpose of the actor under circumstances

Do you know exactly what materials he had in his possession? I have been following this story for months in the local paper, and I don't think they have ever given the specifics.

And since when aren't there legitimate reasons to have materials like kerosene given that he did?

The alternative is that you tie the hands of the police, you can't wait to tackle the guy when he's at the school doors. That's not really something we consider good policing.
Fortunately for him he wasn't Muslim. If he had been, he would have been infiltrated by a paid FBI informant who would have fueled his fantasies while providing him with fake bombs to make the case far more airtight.

I'm not claiming that the authorities shouldn't have interceded in this particular case. I just think that sentencing someone to prison for 15 years for apparently not actually committing any crime besides smoking pot and having a pot plant in his possession is quite extreme. That it is probably not in his best interests to ever become a law abiding citizen who contributes to society in any positive manner. That he really seems to need psychological counseling far more than anything else.
 
Do you know exactly what "materials" he had in his possession? I have been following this story for months in the local paper, and I don't think they have ever given the specifics.

Dunno. I assume that's what they displayed to the jury.

One thing that jumped out when reading the article is that he was tried as an adult. I think that's one of the biggest problems that our justice system is facing, trying 16, 15, 14, and hell 7 or 9 year old's as adults. This combined with mandatory minimums which tie the hands of the judge in using his discretion is what's resulting in sentences like these far out of proportion to offenses, worst is that Florida mandates that adults must serve 85% of the prison time, again removing discretion from the parole board.

If you want to get angry about it, that's the things you should target that idiot (Republican?) politicians with their "tough on crime" attitude passed, resulting in outcomes like this, but under current law this kid just got really screwed perhaps more than he should have, perhaps not.

Edit: Oh and overzealous prosecutors and lack-luster underpaid, overworked public defenders. (Increase those poor people's funding goddamit, you should see the stacks and stacks of boxes of cases they have in their office. They'll let legal interns do almost everything short of trial!)
 
<snip>



Do you know exactly what materials he had in his possession? I have been following this story for months in the local paper, and I don't think they have ever given the specifics.

And since when aren't there legitimate reasons to have materials like kerosene given that he did?

Fortunately for him he wasn't Muslim. If he had been, he would have been infiltrated by a paid FBI informant who would have fueled his fantasies while providing him with fake bombs to make the case far more airtight.

I'm not claiming that the authorities shouldn't have interceded in this particular case. I just think that sentencing someone to prison for 15 years for apparently not actually committing any crime besides smoking pot and having a pot plant in his possession is quite extreme. That it is probably not in his best interests to ever become a law abiding citizen who contributes to society in any positive manner. That he really seems to need psychological counseling far more than anything else.
But you don't know what bomb making materials he had, so how can you say he got 15 years ONLY for pot related crimes?

The article says that he was also found guilty on the bomb making materials charge (as well as other, non pot, offenses).
 
I have drano crystals, aluminium foil and nails. I have bomb making material right now.
 
Frankly, he deserves the 15 years just for the pot. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.
 
Even a backward country like the US and a backward state like Florida doesn't have such draconian punishments for smoking an essentially harmless recreational drug that is now completely legal in two states. At least not anymore...
 
Frankly, he deserves the 15 years just for the pot. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

Are you being serious here?:rolleyes:

Why not just execute everyone for everything then?

I mean, surely if you commit any crime you should get the death penalty.

Even if you believe marijuana shouldn't be legal for some odd reason, 15 years is not just excessive for that, it is indeed draconian.

I think a state should be allowed to decide not to legalize pot if they want, but 15 years clearly would fall under "Cruel and Unusual Punishment" considering the minor nature of the offense.

Even a backward country like the US and a backward state like Florida doesn't have such draconian punishments for smoking an essentially harmless recreational drug that is now completely legal in two states. At least not anymore...

I'm pretty sure Texas has 99 years;) Florida isn't the reddest state in the nation at all...
 
I'm sure all those years of hard prison time will make this emotionally disturbed young man a better more stable person. It always does you know.

Well you know the privatized prison system needs more "residents"....besides this is stupid..didn't we all have fantasies like this kid?

The only difference is alot of teens can't get bombs or guns without setting off red flags...

Frankly, he deserves the 15 years just for the pot. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

this wins facepalm of the year award for 2012....I bet the pot calmed him down and let him forget about all the s/bullies in his life....

I know without pot I am not functioning up to par with everyone else...
 
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