GUILTY NV - Steven Gale, 27, shot to death in Reno robbery spree, 8 May 2011

Ughhh...I hate to be the one to say I don't agree with this. He didn't shoot the man! IMHO he should have been charged with robbery, period.

I believe that the judge made a rash decision in saying there's "no redeeming value” in the now 13-year-old Cruz.

Who is he to say that. This is a 13 year old, whos brain hasn't even fully formed yet. That's ridiculous. Why throw an entire life away because he was involved in an armed robbery (and wasn't the trigger man).

My opinion only --

Mel

Authorities said that Cruz did not shoot Gale during the spree, but he was involved in the armed robbery of Gale’s female friend — which led to the killing. His active participation makes him just as responsible for his death as the shooter, according to the law.
 
I am fine with this sentence. I am fine with severe & harsh punishment if warranted & carried out ! Why is the mother not being held accountable for her son's actions !?

Some people cannot be rehabilitated . . . and it appears the State of Nevada & Clark County did what they could for this poor soul.

Shame that parents are not raising their children to be members of society. Shame that Gangs are the only family some kids have.

End of days
 
I am pleased to read life does not mean life, he still is a 13 year old child no matter his crimes,
 
This kid is a psychopath. He's right where he belongs. I hope for the sake of society he never gets out on parole
 
Inmates 18 and younger are usually housed at the High Desert State Prison in Indian Springs. In that facility, the focus is on education, life skills and substance abuse. But if they cause disruptions or have behavioral problems, they are placed in other facilities with adults.

http://www.rgj.com/article/20111202...on-officials-evaluate-state-s-youngest-inmate

Seems he still has a chance to do well, make good on his so called remorse & wishing he could take it al back...work on rehabilitation and life skills. Somehow I doubt he will take advantage of it and will end up in a facility w/ adults before he turns 18
 
He's eligble for parole in 16 years. I think it is fair for the death of the man and I think this kid might actually have a chance to change. Obviously where he is, is useless.
 
He's 13 and involved in a robbery with three adults. They charge him with murder and try him as an adult. To me that is just wrong. Theother laws recognizes that at 13 he isn't capable of making good decisions.

At 13 he is legally unable to drink, get a driver's license, join the military or sign a contract. And at 13 he is legally unable to consent to sex. At 13 he is considered too young to hold a job except under very limited rules. Under the law he is considered a child and a dependent.

Yet when he commits a crime, suddenly he is considered an adult, capable of making legal decisions on his case, capable of making adult decisions. Too me it is just wrong.

Yes I know he committed a horrible crime. A crime that destroyed the life of another person and that harmed a family. But I still consider it wrong that we call him a child most of his life, then suddenly consider him an adult in the legal system.

However I do wonder what happened to the old laws about contributing to the delinquency of a minor. I really think that we should be strengthening that law and applying it any time that a juvenile commits a crime along with an adult.
 
He's 13 and involved in a robbery with three adults. They charge him with murder and try him as an adult. To me that is just wrong. Theother laws recognizes that at 13 he isn't capable of making good decisions.

At 13 he is legally unable to drink, get a driver's license, join the military or sign a contract. And at 13 he is legally unable to consent to sex. At 13 he is considered too young to hold a job except under very limited rules. Under the law he is considered a child and a dependent.

Yet when he commits a crime, suddenly he is considered an adult, capable of making legal decisions on his case, capable of making adult decisions. Too me it is just wrong.

Yes I know he committed a horrible crime. A crime that destroyed the life of another person and that harmed a family. But I still consider it wrong that we call him a child most of his life, then suddenly consider him an adult in the legal system.

However I do wonder what happened to the old laws about contributing to the delinquency of a minor. I really think that we should be strengthening that law and applying it any time that a juvenile commits a crime along with an adult.


<modsnip>. Especially, after learning about his priors, including previously being locked up in juvenile detention and all the help & support given to him up to that point.

So how <modsnip> suggest society is protected from him? What should happen to him in <modsnip>? IMO He certainly doesn't belong in juvenile detention. A residential treatment facility?
 
Much like prison, juvenile facilities often warehouse more than they rehab. The kids attend school, because that is the law. Other than that they are in poor housing, poorly supervised, over crowded and sometimes in abusive situations. Often juvie facilities are worse than our prisons both as far as the facility and the quality of what is provided in the facility. Still it beats putting a 13 year old in prison with adult offenders.
 
<modsnip>.

Society dictates that someone that age is not mature enough to comprehend their actions in just about everything else. It is hypocrisy to say "oh yeah, murder is the exception". Either someone that age understands their social responsibilities or they do not, you cannot have it both ways. I know the law says otherwise, but that is the moral hypocrisy in that.
 
I don't know a single thirteen year old that can fully comprehend permanence. They do things feeling that today is all that matters and that only changes with life experience. Definitely overboard. I support harsh punishment when it's warranted, but I don't see that it was, in this case. I just lost a little more faith in our system.
 
<modsnip>

For reals, I would probably want him to receive the death penalty and the parents who bore him to get it too. That is why penalties aren't decided by family.

How do I suggest that society be protected from him? Very very carefully.

I can remember my own child at that age. One minute he sounded and acted so adult I would almost ache with pride and with the loss of my baby. But the next minute he would act like the little kindergartner that I put on the school bus for the first time. He's 19 now and sometimes I still feel that way. But the adult times are showing up more and he is proving that he is not only capable of thinking, planning and acting responsibly, he is actually doing so.

If the juvenile system was actually set up correctly, there would be schooling, counseling, vocational training, and psychiatric help when needed. Along with nutritional meals and structured activities. And maybe, just maybe if some time and attention was actually spent on some of them, just maybe a few would change.
 
In my oppinion This is the corect sentence where do you go from robbery and killing someone . It's not like he started out with shoplifting and worked his way up through petty crimes whats next after this surely not a one time deal . So for that this is where is should be how many more times are we gonna see the same thing over and over i know this is a different crime but It's like all these kids missing and murdered serial killers you cant keep giving them 3 years when thier kids and hope they learned a lesson they dont all they learn is dont get caught . Theres no mistake here no accident wheather he pulled the trigger or not this was all Intentional. You do something like this do you really think he was then gonna be a honor student never miss a day in class quit the gang maybe start playing the piano in the band gimme a break . fine by me what you need to ask is am I and my familly safer tonight because he is in jail .
 
At first I thought it was too much but then I read the article. THis child was heading towards gang activity and if he had not been involved in this who knows what else he would have eventually done.
 
He's 13 and involved in a robbery with three adults. They charge him with murder and try him as an adult. To me that is just wrong. Theother laws recognizes that at 13 he isn't capable of making good decisions.

At 13 he is legally unable to drink, get a driver's license, join the military or sign a contract. And at 13 he is legally unable to consent to sex. At 13 he is considered too young to hold a job except under very limited rules. Under the law he is considered a child and a dependent.

Yet when he commits a crime, suddenly he is considered an adult, capable of making legal decisions on his case, capable of making adult decisions. Too me it is just wrong.

Yes I know he committed a horrible crime. A crime that destroyed the life of another person and that harmed a family. But I still consider it wrong that we call him a child most of his life, then suddenly consider him an adult in the legal system.

However I do wonder what happened to the old laws about contributing to the delinquency of a minor. I really think that we should be strengthening that law and applying it any time that a juvenile commits a crime along with an adult.


Flanagan called Cruz a “pathological, antisocial miscreant.” Washoe County School Police Officer Tracy Moore testified he gave up helping Cruz after the boy told him, “I’m going to get a gun and shoot you.”

Flanagan said police reports showed Cruz threatened juvenile detention staff saying, “I know people,” “I’ll get you,” and “I’ll cut your head off.”

Hall added that after Cruz’s arrest, he was transferred to the juvenile detention center, where he was accused of battering and harassing other juvenile inmates and gang activity. Hall said Cruz wasn’t charged with these alleged crimes because of his anticipated lengthy sentence for murder.

Flanagan said Cruz was transferred to the juvenile center after he threatened to kill himself in Washoe County Jail because he wanted his own cell, showing his manipulative side.


When Jose Cruz was in the fifth grade, Washoe County school officials and its police department flagged him as an at-risk youth who showed growing signs of gang and criminal activity, including smoking marijuana.

A school police officer and his juvenile probation officer testified Friday that during the next couple of years they vigilantly tried to get Cruz on the right track, after he was in and out of the juvenile detention center in Reno for crimes ranging from violence, theft and drugs. He had a reputation as a street-smart bully who manipulated people to get his way, they said.

Prosecutor Karl Hall said “every social service in the county” had been given to Cruz to help him and his mother, a single parent with four children.

This "child" has been in trouble for 5 years with every opportunity that they could give him to get straight and he chose not to better himself. He figured that since he was a minor he would keep getting off...not this time and it's about time. To bad a man had to die to get him off the streets.
 
<modsnip>. Society dictates that someone that age is not mature enough to comprehend their actions in just about everything else. It is hypocrisy to say "oh yeah, murder is the exception". Either someone that age understands their social responsibilities or they do not, you cannot have it both ways. I know the law says otherwise, but that is the moral hypocrisy in that.

If they can't comprehend that murder is permanent and they have murdered someone then where better for them to be than some place where they can't not permanently murder people? All 13 years old don't go around participating in murder.
 
Much like prison, juvenile facilities often warehouse more than they rehab. The kids attend school, because that is the law. Other than that they are in poor housing, poorly supervised, over crowded and sometimes in abusive situations. Often juvie facilities are worse than our prisons both as far as the facility and the quality of what is provided in the facility. Still it beats putting a 13 year old in prison with adult offenders.

Yeah, but -- if this "juvie" facility is like many about which I have read, the only difference would be the age and sophistication of his abusers. Charlie Manson and so many other hardcore murderers/rapists/predators, etc. etc., started his criminal imprisonment in juvie -- and yes, that was many, many years ago, and approaches and types of treatments & counseling have improved, certainly, but people -- their urges, egos, and male testosterone levels -- do not. A tuff way to grow into young adulthood and to be turned back out into society.

There is just not enuff money, personnel, and caring to really make a lasting difference with these young criminals. And who deserves the most tax dollars & attention?? The good young citizens/students who want to make a difference and go to Governor's School or be a junior page in the State House or the young criminals who are at the brink of becoming criminally sophisticated and nearly soul-less?? That's why so many folks who start out in prison at a young age just keep returning. What is the answer? And this kid may have already turned that corner. :waitasec:
icon9.gif


Impossible and seemingly no solution...
 
If they can't comprehend that murder is permanent and they have murdered someone then where better for them to be than some place where they can't not permanently murder people? All 13 years old don't go around participating in murder.

But they do go around participating in a lot of other crime, such as sex, alcohol and drugs. All crime is permanent. Once it is done it is done. Children are not held responsible for those crimes (other people are) because of their age.

I am not suggesting that children should not get punished...in fact I think they SHOULD be punished just like everyone else for participating in those things.

What I find offensive are those people who stand up and say they shouldn't be for some things (you know, because they are just innocent little angels) and then turn around and for certain things say they should.

The exception is what is wrong. Either they get punished or they get excused, but the same principle should be applied to ALL the crimes they participate in. The concept of no legal responsibility for a willfull act should be abolished.
 
Where was this boy's father? Grandfather? Any responsible caring adult male? It is a horrible situation, but he may be better off locked up as it didn't look like he had much of a future. Very, very sad all the way around.
 

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