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Post by tonya on Jan 13, 2006 21:05:54 GMT -5
Exactly what is provoking this type of behaviour in teens today? This is sickening................and what's even worse is that in this case, they still haven't caught these punks!  Police search for men caught on video beating homeless man an Associated Press report 01/13/06 FORT LAUDERDALE - Police are searching for a group of men who investigators say targeted sleeping homeless men in a pre-dawn beating spree. One homeless man died, and one of the attacks was caught on a university surveillance video. The attackers -- described as a group of two to four young white males -- will face murder charges, police said. "It's senseless. If you look at these kids, it was almost like it was fun and games for them," said Fort Lauderdale Police Officer Scott Russell. "It looked like they were laughing and finding great joy in what they were doing, which made it more horrific." Norris Gaynor, 45, died shortly after 8 a.m. Thursday from his injuries at Broward General Medical Center, police said. The two other homeless men were listed in serious condition at the hospital. They have not been identified. The video shows two men chasing and beating one homeless man, who had been sleeping on a bench shortly after 1 a.m. Thursday near Florida Atlantic University, with what appear to be baseball bats. "It looked like they were going for the head," said Fort Lauderdale police detective Katherine Collins. The homeless man found a security guard who called 911, and the 58-year-old man was taken by paramedics to Broward General Medical Center with head trauma and defensive fractures, authorities said. The scene was chillingly similar to the two beatings that followed early Thursday near the Broward Center for Performing Arts and a church, investigators said. Gaynor was sleeping around 2:30 a.m. on a secluded park bench near the performing arts center before he was attacked, police said. A third homeless man flagged down a fire crew passing a church 3 miles away from the performing arts building just after 4 a.m., authorities said. "He claims that while sleeping he was attacked," said Assistant Chief Stephen McInerny with Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue. Authorities are urging anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477. Fort Lauderdale police and homeless advocates on Thursday distributed fliers about the beatings and warned people to sleep in well-lit, busy locations if they can't reach a shelter. "We wanted to make sure that if they knew of people being beaten, or had seen the suspects out on the street, that the detectives on the case had the information," Officer Jamie Costas said.
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Post by IncogNITO on Jan 13, 2006 22:24:01 GMT -5
Several things in my opinion. TV, Movies, Video games no matter how much people claim it does not effect kids, the body of evidence is growing and there is no doubt in my mind that it is a contributing factor. Did you know that as many as 1 out of 10 views of nc-17 movies is under 13 and that is before it hits DVD. Parents use to get baby sitters so they could see PG movies not any more.
The biggest reason is parental guidance. There is none. Kids today are something to be worked around. Sure mom and dad feed them cloth them send them to school but it stops there. Kids are allowed to raise themselves for the most part. SO no real boundaries are set. Parents have even reached the point where they are giving there kids credit cards so they don't have to deal with going shopping with them. they say 1 in 10 high school students have credit cards and 1 out of 20 middle school students have them. That number is growing very fast because credit card companies are targeting them directly now. Parents want their lives back and they don't feel they should have to give up anything in order to have a fmaily. But that isn't how it works and it will never work that way.
JMayo
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Post by tonya on Jan 15, 2006 19:40:53 GMT -5
I agree with you as far as the parental guidance, there is a lack thereof in many instances. However, it seems to me there is much peer pressure involved which occurs at school. Additionally, no matter how attentive you are as a parent, kids often hide their true feelings from you, for fear of discipline or "not being cool" with their friends. From what I have read homeless beatings are not few and far between. Gangs are involved, again a peer pressure if you will. Kids need outlets, especially sports oriented. But there aren't but a couple of public basketball courts in this area.  Tonya |
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Post by IncogNITO on Jan 17, 2006 21:41:00 GMT -5
But if parents took active daily interest in the kids, knew where they were what they were doing and set boundaries at an early age there would be far less gangs then there are.
This is a problem that has been growing for years. This is not something that just started in the last 10 years. But the last 3 or 4 generations have worked on producing this problem.
I am not saying that every child will turn out wonderful and right if the parents love them, give them attention and show them how to be kind, considerate and how to care for others.
But there will be far less who will fall to peer pressure. Beating homeless people has become a sport in some areas. In Milwaukee there are at least 2 deaths a year where someone is taken from their car and beaten to death. This isn't per pressure as much as it is animal behavior, pack mentality. That kind of thing is far less likely to happen if you come from an attentive, loving home where you a taught and have expectation set on your actions then when you are left to raise yourself.
JMayo
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Post by tonya on Feb 10, 2006 23:35:22 GMT -5
I'm still grasping for any possible reason these kids did this, but I keep coming up empty handed. Just a reason, so maybe this type of brutal inhumane display could somehow be explained and maybe avoided in the future. What was it that motivated them? There had to be a driving force......February 10, 2006 Teens take homeless man's beating lightly, records reveal DAYTONA BEACH -- Last May, some of the five teens charged in the fatal beating of a 53-year-old homeless man took a snack break before returning to beat Michael Roberts one last time, according to court documents released Thursday. Among 180 pages of records released by the State Attorney's Office, statements from the teens and others who talked to them before their arrests reinforce earlier reports that the group appeared to take the beating lightly in the days after Roberts was killed. A green cigarette lighter taken from the dead man's pocket was a trophy to be passed around. Defendants Christopher Scamahorn, 15, Warren Messner, 16, and Jeffery Spurgeon, 18, considered themselves part of a gang and spoke to friends about a plan to get teardrop tattoos before Roberts' body was found, to show they had participated in a killing, investigators say. Scamahorn, who one witness described as the most aggressive in the group, was going to get his tattoo "filled in," because he felt he had done the most, witness Anthony Spurgeon told police. Scamahorn showed off the blood on his sneakers to others, saying "Look at all the blood on it," the reports show. Roberts' blood-soaked body was found on the afternoon of May 28, tucked beneath an old carpet behind a car wash on Nova Road. Word of the killing -- and who did what -- spread quickly among a loose group of teenagers who live and hang out in the working class neighborhood near 13th Street in Holly Hill. Within two weeks, five teens had been charged in connection with Roberts' death. Scamahorn, Messner, Jeffery Spurgeon and Justin Stearns, 18, have been held behind bars ever since. The four pleaded guilty in December to charges of second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Each faces up to life in prison when they are sentenced April 17. A fifth teen, Phi Huynh, 17, threw rocks at Roberts during the first encounter, but did not participate in the second and third beatings, according to statements from Stearns. He has a pending aggravated battery charge and is free on $50,000 bail. Anthony Spurgeon, 17, whose older brother Jeffery was among those charged, told police that Chris Scamahorn shared details the day after the beating of how they had "killed somebody." In his statement to sheriff's investigators released Thursday, the younger Spurgeon said Scamahorn told him that after some in the group had beaten Roberts twice, they "went up to the store, got some chips and soda and had returned a third time." They returned to find Roberts had moved about 15 feet deeper into the woods. In the final beating, the accused teens said Roberts asked to be left alone. "Chris said as the dude was walking away, trying to get away, screaming for help," Anthony Spurgeon said, "Chris picked up a log and hit the dude over the head." The final beating continued -- with kicks to the face and blows from a bottle and log -- until Roberts started making a snoring sound, Scamahorn and others told investigators. The teens left and returned later to find Roberts had died. Last week, Circuit Judge Joseph Will ordered the release of the records, saying that withholding the reports from the media was no longer required because the four had pleaded to the charges against them. 
Tonya
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Post by Goddess on Feb 12, 2006 21:46:15 GMT -5
I hate to say it, but I think a lot of kids pick up on their parents attitudes about homeless people too.
I don't know how many times I've heard them called worthless, good for nothing bums. They are considered to be lazy, drug addicts, societal dregs. I don't know these kids, and I don't know thier parents, but with homelessness not being a problem that is going away, and with people's attitude of noncompassion, kids pick up that homeless people have no worth, no value, kids seem to think "what's the harm in getting rid of a few? Nobody cares what happens to them."
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Post by tonya on Feb 12, 2006 23:21:29 GMT -5
I tend to think it has something to do with "proving themselves" to their peers and of course their view that homeless people are "worthless" they may actually believe it's like killing a roach. Their perception, you are right, of a homeless person, is no respect. It's a game they are playing, to see who can beat and kill the best. I definitely believe these incidents are gang related.
Tonya
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Post by tonya on Feb 14, 2006 21:07:19 GMT -5
February 14, 2006
Confessions reveal details of attack
DAYTONA BEACH -- Shortly before the battered body of a homeless man was found tucked beneath an old carpet in woods off Nova Road near Holly Hill last spring, one of four teens charged in the killing suggested they look for other homeless people to attack, according to new court documents released Monday.
"After that incident, they talked about it, like going to find bums to beat up," Justin Stearns told a Volusia County sheriff's investigator after Michael Roberts' broken body was found, three days after he'd been beaten to death.
Christopher Scamahorn, 15, who along with Stearns and two others has since pleaded to a murder charge, suggested they start a club to beat up woods dwellers, "just for being bums," said Stearns, 18, who faces up to life in prison for his role.
In 492 pages of recorded statements by Stearns, Scamahorn, Warren Messner, now 16, and Jeffery Spurgeon, 18, released Monday by the State Attorney's Office, more details emerged of how the apparently drunk Roberts was found sleeping in the woods by some in the group -- who had been smoking marijuana cigars.
"I guess we were too high, and acted stupid," Spurgeon told an investigator, after admitting he punched the man and jumped on a log placed over his ribs. "I wasn't trying to kill him, I just wanted to hit him . . . just beat him up for a little bit."
Roberts begged for the attacks to stop and asked the group why they were hitting him. One of the teens, who had two forts in the area, told Roberts he was "in their territory," Stearns said. Some said the beating started because Phi Huynh, a fifth teen charged, said Roberts had called him a racially derogatory name and had picked on him.
Whether it was boredom, a sense of territory or a drug-induced frenzy that started the confrontation, it ended after three separate attacks spanning two hours on the night of May 25. In lengthy statements the four gave to sheriff's investigators, resulting in confessions and helping bolster charges against them, each of the teens at first tried to downplay his own involvement.
Investigators pieced together their case by talking with several teenage witnesses, including Spurgeon's brother Anthony, 17, who said he had been told by Scamahorn and the others what happened in the woods. Others said the teens showed them the body. The detectives used the various accounts going around the neighborhood to get the story from each teen, in his own words.
"It spread like wildfire," Spurgeon's lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Mitch Wrenn, said Monday. "Once law enforcement had a clue of who to investigate, and had a lot of details, they were able to focus their investigation."
Wrenn said the statements -- and what the four told other teens -- was crucial to the state's case against them.
A child of immigrant parents from Vietnam, Huynh, 16, is the only one of the five who asked to speak to an attorney before answering questions, and did not give a statement to investigators. Huynh has a pending aggravated battery charge and is free on $20,000 bail.
Scamahorn, Messner, Spurgeon and Stearns pleaded guilty in December to charges of second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Each will face up to life in prison when they are sentenced April 17. Wrenn said his position will be that Scamahorn threw the fatal blow.
In his statement, Stearns admitted he hit Roberts with a log three times. He also described how Spurgeon hit the man in the head with a stick, opening a gash, and how Scamahorn kicked the victim twice in the face. "Every single time that we went there, he started it," Stearns said of Scamahorn. "He was laughing about it."
Scamahorn said the beating was Spurgeon's idea, and admitted he kicked Roberts, but downplayed or denied further involvement.
Messner, who some others said had tried to stop the attacks, admitted that he jumped on a log placed over Roberts' body.
It will be up to Circuit Judge Joseph Will to decide how to weigh the actions of each in deciding their fate.
Now this answers why Phi's out on bail.....
Also to note....
Tonya
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Post by tonya on Apr 20, 2006 23:02:27 GMT -5
Down to the sentence on this case Friday, April 21, 2006. They show remorse, offer apologies and excuses to the heinous act they committed (good coaching).
But they are not innocent. So, 20 years or life?.............
Tonya
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Post by tonya on Apr 20, 2006 23:07:41 GMT -5
April 20, 2006
Doctor: Defendant in homeless beating has low IQ
DAYTONA BEACH -- A mental health expert testified Wednesday that one of the four teens facing life in prison for beating a homeless man to death is mentally deficient and "doesn't pick up on things as quickly as other people."
Justin Stearns, 18, of Holly Hill jumped on a log lying on victim Michael Roberts' body and struck him three times during three separate attacks on May 25, 2005, prosecutors say.
In the third day of a weeklong sentencing hearing before Circuit Judge Joseph Will, a psychiatrist who interviewed Stearns said a "mob mentality" and his low intelligence were reasons why he participated.
The psychiatrist, in pointing out Stearns' mental frailties, also testified that the young man told him he had a conversation with Roberts after the final attack and that the dead man acknowledged his assailant's apology.
"Given his limited IQ, he didn't really see where this was ending," said Dr. Michael Herkov, a Jacksonville psychiatrist.
Taking the stand later, Stearns downplayed his involvement, saying he hit Roberts in the arm with a log. "It probably hit him in the ribs at the same time," he said.
He also read a note of apology to the Roberts family, saying, "there's no reason for what we did."
In the attacks that were spread out over two hours, the group had been smoking marijuana when they beat and pounded Roberts with feet, logs and fists as he pleaded for them to stop, prosecutors say.
Stearns, 18, Christopher Scamahorn, 15, Jeffery Spurgeon, 19, and Warren Messner, 16, all of Holly Hill, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in December.
Volusia County Medical Examiner Thomas Beaver testified earlier this week that Roberts, 53, died of blunt force trauma and suffered two potentially fatal blows to the head, along with broken ribs. But he couldn't say for sure which head injury killed the man.
Herkov found Stearns, who claims he didn't participate in the first two beatings by Spurgeon and Scamahorn, has an IQ of 74 and the emotional intelligence of a 12-year-old. The doctor said Stearns has shown remorse.
"By the time the third occasion came in, he was in over his head," Herkov said. "He really did develop a fear" that if he didn't participate, he would be hurt himself.
Stearns struggled in school and quit in the ninth grade after being picked on for being in special education classes.
He did, however, show an aptitude for racing go-karts and building small engines, Herkov and others said.
Stearns, who was found sane and competent to stand trial, told the psychiatrist that he'd gone to check on Roberts after he was killed, and that they spoke. "He told the man he was sorry," Herkov said, adding. " 'I hope you're in a better place.' "
Stearns said the man looked at him, and told him, " 'I know you're sorry, you will go through some things, but you will be OK.' "
The vivid dream or vision reflected regret, Herkov said. "He wishes he could go back and change things."
What's Next
TODAY: Christopher Scamahorn, who some say initiated the beating death of Michael Roberts, is expected to testify, along with other witnesses called by his attorney.
FRIDAY: Warren Messner, who admitted to sheriff's investigators that he jumped on a log placed over Roberts' body, is expected to testify, along with defense witnesses. The judge is then expected to sentence the four.
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Post by Goddess on Apr 21, 2006 0:26:08 GMT -5
I have to go with life on this one. Maybe if they hadn't gone back over and over....
but this is one of the most horrific cold-blooded crimes I have ever heard of.
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Post by reason on Apr 21, 2006 9:09:26 GMT -5
Down to the sentence on this case Friday, April 21, 2006. They show remorse, offer apologies and excuses to the heinous act they committed (good coaching). But they are not innocent. So, 20 years or life?............. Tonya Your cynicism isn't becoming. My guess is that you were not even in the courtroom when the allocution was given, and therefore have no grounds on which to base your supposition that the remorse was a result of good coaching rather than heartfelt. You attribute motive to people without any insight into the psychology of offenders. Your retributionist rants have no basis in any personal knowledge, but rather only on what you read in the paper. You just make stuff up. And you call me a dickhead? |
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Post by tonya on Apr 21, 2006 20:10:23 GMT -5
Down to the sentence on this case Friday, April 21, 2006. They show remorse, offer apologies and excuses to the heinous act they committed (good coaching). But they are not innocent. So, 20 years or life?............. Tonya Your cynicism isn't becoming. My guess is that you were not even in the courtroom when the allocution was given, and therefore have no grounds on which to base your supposition that the remorse was a result of good coaching rather than heartfelt. Your retributionist rants have no basis in any personal knowledge, but rather only on what you read in the paper. You just make stuff up. And you call me a dickhead? Who needs to be present in the courtroom when it's brought into your living room via Channel 13, 9, 6, 4 & 3? Sentencing has been psyched back to Monday in this case. Meanwhile, more cases of homeless people being brutally beaten by teens come in. The psychology of the offenders is comparable to a pack of wild dogs attacking their prey. But what's the reason, Reason? Tonya |
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Post by tonya on Apr 21, 2006 22:58:34 GMT -5
April 21, 2006 Homeless man attacked in DeLand DELAND -- With a side glance, Philip Tarbell saw the cinderblock Wednesday as he tried to flee from five teenagers. After being struck, the 56-year-old homeless man felt a searing pain in his face and fell. Warm blood poured from his nose. "I felt like I was going to pass out," Tarbell said Thursday, touching the swollen, liver-colored skin surrounding his left eye and bruised cheekbone. Homeless advocates and police say Tarbell was another victim of a senseless attack by teenagers against a homeless person. Across the country, dozens of homeless people are attacked each year, most often by white men under 20, according to the Washington-based National Coalition for the Homeless. Baseball bats are a favored weapon, as well as rocks, bricks, fists and feet, pellet guns and knives. While four white teenagers await their punishment for pleading guilty to killing a homeless man named Michael Roberts, violence against those who call the streets home doesn't appear to be subsiding. But Tarbell's case shows the violence crosses racial lines. He identified five black teens as his attackers. "He could have been killed if that brick hit him in the right place," Linda Brown, director of the Agape Clubhouse at the United Methodist Church in DeLand, said of Wednesday's attack. "The message is that the homeless in DeLand are vulnerable, that they are not any better than what happened to Mr. Roberts in Holly Hill." DeLand police are investigating the attack. The homeless' "status in the community is irrelevant," Cmdr. Randel Henderson said. "We are going to protect property and personal safety no matter who you are." The National Coalition for the Homeless has documented 386 attacks on the homeless over the past six years, including 156 deaths. Of the total number of attacks, 211 have been recorded since 2002. The real numbers are probably much higher, partly because homeless people often cannot or will not go to the police, said Michael Stoops, executive director of the homeless coalition. "Homeless people who become crime victims sometimes do not want to bring attention to their style of living or where they live," sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said. Tarbell, who became homeless in April 2004 and now bags groceries at a local Winn Dixie, said he was walking west just before 3 p.m. in the 200 block of Voorhis Avenue when he was attacked. He said he yelled at the five black teens, ages 13 to 16, to stop but that only made them throw more stones, according to a police report. They later ran. Another homeless man said Thursday he, too, was attacked by a group of white teens. John Smith said his tent in DeLand was doused with lighter fluid and set on fire earlier this month. His friend suffered a broken nose when the 10 teenagers attacked with metal pipes in the woods behind a Winn Dixie store, he said. Neither the Sheriff's Office or DeLand police were aware of this attack. What drives teenagers to attack the homeless remains unclear. It's difficult to get into the psyche of such a perpetrator, said David Pope, a member of the National Homeless Coalition who helps with research and advocating against hate crimes. "This is a crime of opportunity. These people are easy because they're on the street and it's at night and there is not a lot of protection," Pope said. "I guess it's also a group mentality, maybe a societal influence -- people devalue someone because of their housing status and that leads to devaluing them as a person." Florida lawmakers, meanwhile, are taking steps to strengthen laws that would increase criminal penalties for anyone found guilty of targeting the homeless by classifying the attacks as "hate crimes."
House committees have approved the proposal, readying it to go to the full House. The measure has passed one Senate committee and is pending in another. Both chambers would have to approve the proposal before the May 5 end of the legislative session.
This is a much needed law.  Tonya |
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Post by reason on Apr 22, 2006 22:13:23 GMT -5
This is a stupid law, as are all hate crimes laws.
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