The Sad and Tragic Story of Jamarion “Please Kill Me” Lawhorn and His Victim Connor Verkerke

by Starks Shrink

I’m incensed, and you should be too. Late last week, a 12-year-old stabbed a 9-year-old to death at a playground in Michigan. The 12-year-old, Jamarion Lawhorn, apparently took a steak knife from his home, went to a playground near the victim’s home and asked some boys there to play with him. He randomly chose 9-year-old Michael Connor Verkerke as his victim and stabbed him in the back four times. Connor, as he was known, was helped to his home by his brother who was present during the stabbing, where he collapsed on the porch and died later that evening in the hospital.

This is a situation in which there is no happy ending — not for any of the boys nor their families. In their infinite wisdom, the DA’s office has chosen to prosecute Jamarion Lawhorn as an adult in juvenile court for “open murder” which simply means that the prosecution does not have to decide on first or second degree murder. This is the facet of this case that has me incensed.

Jamarion Lawhorn is twelve years old. He’s a child and the stabbing of innocent Connor was carried out based on a confused child’s motivations. According to investigators, Jamarion called 911 to report himself and was quite agitated when police showed up and didn’t immediately arrest him. He told officers that he had been thinking about his actions for a year, that he wanted to die, and that he had stabbed Connor because he presumed that they would kill him via the electric chair or lethal injection. Clearly, these statements reflect the thoughts of a troubled young boy. Digging into the scant information available, I find that Jamarion had a troubled upbringing; he was never in trouble with the law, but was lonely, forlorn and tormented.

Jamarion comes from a highly blended family with half-siblings and step-siblings numbering approximately 10. He lived in Kentwood, Michigan with his mother, half-sisters and step-brothers until sometime last fall when he moved to New York to stay with his father. His father’s girlfriend and mother of several of his children, claims that Jamarion was being bullied at school in Kentwood being called “dumb” and “black” and thought things might be better with his dad in Geneva, New York. I should note here that the African American population in Kentwood is 15% and just over 10% in Geneva.

Apparently, after months in New York, Jamarion was lonely, having not made friends easily, and he had returned to his mother’s home in Michigan just this past June. His mother made statements to police that Jamarion had never been in any trouble but indicated that he had showed a penchant for playing with fire, even setting her bed alight on one occasion. Anita Lawhorn, Jamarion’s mother, was shocked and heartbroken over the stabbing death, offering apologies and condolences to the Verkerke family.

I honestly don’t understand why his family didn’t seek help for Jamarion. He was obviously feeling hopeless and according to his own statements, thought that he was just a bad kid who did “stupid stuff” and no one loved or cared about him. Playing with fire as a child is very common; his mother doesn’t indicate Jamarion’s age when he started this pastime so it’s difficult to know if this was normal childhood experimentation, or if he was manifesting his psychological distress. However, the fact that Anita chose to relate this to police when they interviewed her indicates that she found it worrisome.

Why then, didn’t she do something about his situation? Perhaps both sides of his family were so busy with life and other smaller children that no one noticed this poor boy’s sense of futility. Regardless of how he arrived at the breaking point, it’s painfully clear that he did.

The idea of charging this young boy as an adult that was capable of planning and committing a crime and understanding the consequences of his actions is absurd. Absolutely absurd! What raises my hackles further is that Michigan is the same state that is handling the Charlie Bothuell case. They chose to view Charlie, also 12 years old, as a small helpless boy when by all indications he was much more street savvy and troublesome than Jamarion ever was. How then does the state of Michigan petition for termination of the parental rights of Bothuell’s father, yet decide that Jamarion is disposable because he was emotionally neglected?

One report indicated that Jamarion Lawhorn would be evaluated to determine his competency to stand trial. His competency to stand trial should not be the major concern in this matter. His fragile psychological state and lack of emotional support are what should be the paramount importance. The prosecution has the option of transferring this boy to adult court and handling his case in that draconian manner, but it also has the option of prosecuting the Jamarion as a juvenile. It’s a tragedy that a small boy lost his life, but it would only compound the tragedy to discard another small boy upon the scrap heap of society’s lost and forgotten children.