commentary by Patrick H. Moore
Confused and angry teenagers need to be given very little provocation to resort to acts that leave us “adults” scratching our head in wonderment and horror. The recent case of Dylan Cardeilhac, the 15-year-old Wyoming jailbird, who mindlessly strangled 24-year-old juvenile prison guard Amanda Baker as part of an ill-conceived escape attempt is an excellent example of this.
Now we have another case that does not – at least on the surface — involve “jail kids”. Rather, it involves four ordinary high-school age kids who have gotten themselves into a jam that’s not going away any time soon based on their perception that the “victim teen” had insulted a friend of their by allegedly calling him “gay” on Facebook. It is unclear whether the perpetrators were angry because the victim was bashing an actual gay friend, or because they merely felt insulted that another kid had disparaged a non-gay friend by calling him “gay”.
Jonathan Wolfe of Opposing Views has the story:
Four teens, ages 14 to 17, have been arrested after reportedly torturing one of their school classmates, a 16-year-old boy. All of the kids in question are believed to have attended David Douglas High School in Southeast Portland.
According to police, one of the perpetrators, 15-year-old Jenna Jean Montgomery, lured the victim into a shed with the promise of sex and drugs. After her arrest, Jenna told the police her job was to act as the “bait.”
Oddly enough, the torture/attack occurred during a rare Portland snowstorm.
Ms. Montgomery apparently had little trouble convincing the “gay-baiter” to accompany her to the shed. When the victim arrived and was “safely” inside, he was confronted by three boys — Jess Taylor, 17, Blue Kalmbach, 15, and an unnamed 14-year-old who is being charged as a juvenile.
Although not fatal, the attack was downright nasty. First the victim was hit in the back of the head with a crowbar. The boys, who (you guessed it) had a gun handy, pointed it at the victim and ordered him to take off his shirt. 15-year-old Blue Kalmbach then shot the victim in the hand, chest and groin with a BB gun. (The BBs were surgically removed later.)
The perps then beat the boy with a crow bar and forced him to eat cat feces. Then as a sort of coup de grâce Blue Kalmbach carved a swastika into the victim’s forehead with a box-cutter. (It is unclear whether the use of the swastika signifies the belief on the part of the perpetrators that the victim was no better than a “nazi” for resorting to gay-bashing.)
Understandably, the victim begged to be released and after a while, the teens obliged, but only on one condition: he had to steal a skateboard for them and bring them back drugs. According to another report, the boys took the victim’s iPod and ordered him to go retrieve money and a skateboard. Why the instigators believed the victim would comply with these “conditions of release” is anybody’s guess…
Once released, the victim sprinted to an automotive shop and called police. After interviewing him, the police arrested all four perpetrators, who have all been charged with Measure 11 crimes, which carry mandatory minimum sentences. The boys were arraigned in juvenile court on Tuesday, February 18th.
All of the teens will be tried in adult court, with the exception of the 14-year-old.
When interviewed by police, the teens explained that they tortured the victim because he called one of their friends gay on Facebook.
In trying to make sense of this, one law enforcement source spoke with Fox 25 bemusedly:
“What’s really shocking about the whole thing is just how ignorant the teens were of the consequences of what they were doing. None of them expressed any remorse; really just shock at how much trouble they were in. They didn’t understand that it would be that big a deal.”
Although the boys, despite the vicious nature of the assault, appear to be rather naive and unworldly, they will no doubt learn a great deal during their years in prison.
Although it obviously in no way excuses their actions, the police have stated that the suspects considered their victim a bully, and saw their acts as retaliation. The victim’s mother, Kelli Murrain, however, is cutting them no slack and has apparently not condemned her son for “gay-baiting”. My Murrain spoke to KPTV:
“He’s been really emotionally and mentally traumatized. It’s something he’s going to live with, especially if the scar of the swastika doesn’t go away. Every time he looks in the mirror, he’s going to have that memory. I’m almost ready to lose faith in humanity … all this evil is running around and it’s with our youth. It’s bad enough that we have the bad guys out there, you know the adult bad guys, but these are young kids.”
Bad son. Bad enemies. It was just “breaking bad” all the way around.
The teens are being held in a juvenile detention center. The charges against them include kidnapping, assault, and robbery. All four have entered not guilty pleas and a grand jury indictment is expected to be returned early this week. Based on the charges, under Measure 11, the boys appear to be facing somewhere in the vicinity of 20 years in prison.
20 years is too much. A reasonable solution, assuming that the charges hold, would be to make these boys wards of the state until they are 21. During this time, they would be held in a juvenile facility where the emphasis would be on education and rehabilitation.
On the other hand, the offense was downright nasty and you can hardly blame folks for being upset. Portland Police Capt. Dave Hendrie said the details of the case disturbed even longtime officers on the force.
“It was shocking enough that even 20-year veterans were like, ‘Wow’… that’s just another level,” Hendrie told the Oregonian.