Patterico's Pontifications

7/19/2019

13-year-old Iowa Boy on Trial for Attempted Murder

Filed under: Law — DRJ @ 7:48 am



[Headline from DRJ]

Did Iowa 12-year-old pull the trigger to get attention or to kill his teacher?

A jury of seven men and five women will decide if Luke Andrews, 13, intended to kill his teacher in a North Scott Junior High School classroom last August.

In their closing arguments, prosecutor Julie Walton and defense attorney Melanie Thwing agreed on Tuesday that Andrews, then 12, pointed a loaded Smith & Wesson .22-caliber in the face of his seventh-grade social studies teacher, Dawn Spring, and pulled the trigger the morning of Aug. 31, the fifth day of the school year.

They disagree about whether he intended to kill her.

‘I accepted the fact that I was going to die’: Teachers recall boy pointing gun in class:

Friday morning, [teacher Dawn] Spring took the witness stand. She testified that once MacDonald got her attention in the classroom, Andrews was holding the gun in the direction of other students.

Spring said she walked toward Andrews, “in hopes to distract him from the students,” and said, “something to the effect of, ‘Oh man, it looks like you’re having a really bad day.'”

Andrews walked toward Spring, and they faced each other near the front of the class, about 3 or 4 feet apart, Spring said.

“As he approaches me and we come face to face, he says nothing. I say nothing. He puts the gun up at face level and pulls the trigger,” Spring said. “I thought I heard an audible click from the gun, and then he turned the gun and kind of looked at it funny, like, ‘that’s weird,’ kind of a look at it, then he put it up in my face a second time.”

The verdict:

Jurors convicted Luke Andrews of assault while displaying a dangerous weapon, carrying weapons on school grounds, and assault with intent to inflict serious injury. They declined to convict him of attempted murder, instead selecting the second assault charge from a list of lesser, included offenses available to them, along with acquittal.

— DRJ

4 Responses to “13-year-old Iowa Boy on Trial for Attempted Murder”

  1. This:

    His father, Joseph Andrews III, was charged with control of a firearm by a felon on Aug. 31, the same day his son brought the gun to school. Authorities found guns in the elder Andrews’ bedroom, court records show. He is scheduled to go on trial in October.

    nk (dbc370)

  2. Keep an eye on this kid – he’s got the potential to be president some day!

    Dave (1bb933)

  3. Did the jury hear about the father, nk? I don’t think they did, but they did hear that the boy told his teacher there were problems at home (as they went to the principal’s office, with him still holding a gun on her).

    DRJ (15874d)

  4. I imagine where he got the gun did come out, DRJ. The felon part, probably not.

    nk (dbc370)


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