Saturday, December 20, 2014

Juveniles Tried as Adults for Murder Not Unusual in Maury County, TN

By David in TN

At the age of 17, Charles Lowe-Kelley was too young to legally buy cigarettes, a beer or even to register to vote. But he wasn’t too young for a Maury County judge and jury to send him to prison and throw away the key.

This was in the Columbia Daily Herald on December 6. When I went to Circuit Court Clerk's office today in the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee. They told me Darious Fitzpatrick is in the juvenile system. They are waiting for the results of "mental and forensic evaluations."

Fitzpatrick has to be transferred out of juvenile court to adult court. Then it will go before the grand jury. After the indictment (he admitted to deliberately killing Gordon Schaffer and it's on tape), will come the trial. The woman I talked to said because of "publicity" the trial might be moved from Columbia. I told her my experience was that in Tennessee, juries are bused in from other counties.

I told them I would come back in a month and ask how the case was progressing.

N.S.: In a recent sophisticated puff piece by New York Times operative Chip Brown, promoting Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr., claimed that only New York and North Carolina prosecute juveniles as adults.

“[Vance] pushed to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 18 — New York and North Carolina are the only states that treat 16-year-olds as adults.”

In most, if not all states, judges can rule on whether a defendant under the age of 18 shall be prosecuted as an adult. However, there is a national movement of the Society for the Protection and Promotion of Heinous Black and Hispanic Felons Under 18 Years of Age, to pass laws banning such prosecutions. Chip Brown obviously supports such laws, and DA Vance’s support of them, as well as his support of the (hotel housekeeper) Nafissatou Diallo rape hoax, have earned him Brown’s support.

1 comment:

David In TN said...

Today, Thursday March 12, I went by the Circuit Court Clerk's office in the Columbia, Tennessee courthouse. I asked one of the (three) women working there if there was any news on the Darious Fitzpatrick case.

One said she didn't think there was but picked up the phone, dialed someone and asked, "Is there any news on the Darious Fitzpatrick case?"

She listened a few minutes and hung up. I was then told a hearing will be held in Juvenile Court at 8:30 AM, March 31. The hearing will determine whether Fitzpatrick will be turned over to adult court.

Then, a grand jury will convene. Assuming there is an indictment, a trial date will be set.

This is were the murder of Gordon Schaeffer, shot dead last October while working at a Papa John's pizza place, presently stands.

They are quite willing to give information. I told them I assist a true crime blog.