HONOLULU — The family of the Marine who was stabbed to death in Waikiki last month wants the 16-year-old suspect to be tried as an adult.
HONOLULU — The family of the Marine who was stabbed to death in Waikiki last month wants the 16-year-old suspect to be tried as an adult.
The family of Sgt. William Brown wrote a letter urging prosecutors to try the teen as an adult, KHON2-TV reported Monday.
“He knew the consequence of his actions, so yes, the family is extremely, extremely of the belief that this individual who did this crime took a life of a Marine Corps sergeant who was serving his country, same as you would take a life of a police officer,” said Malcholm Reese, Brown’s uncle.
Brown, 23, was buried last week with full honors at Arlington National Cemetery. The Tennessee native was fatally stabbed on Oct. 21 after an argument between Brown and the suspect turned physical and ended with the stabbing, police have said.
Brown joined the Marines in 2012 and was stationed at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe.
The suspect is set to make his first appearance in court on Tuesday, which would have been Brown’s 24th birthday, family members said.
In July 2014, Kaanoi Kipapa was accused of stabbing his foster mother to death at their home in Waimanalo. He was 16 years old at the time.
Kipapa will be tried as an adult when he goes to trial in January.
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Information from: KHON-TV, http://khon.com
Trying a minor as an adult? Does that really make any sense at all?
Since “everyone” is pressing for a 16-year-old to be considered an adult, perhaps we should change the age of majority to 16. Can’t everyone see that this is just a ploy to restrict the protections of childhood only to those who can afford it? If the Sergeant had gotten into “a beef” with a 16-year-old Donald Trump, would there be pressure to try Trump as an adult?
Perhaps society needs to reconsider the idea of the “age of majority”. Perhaps there should be several steps to that date so that this minor can be tried as “not-a-minor-yet-not-an-adult”.
But trying him as an adult is just seeking revenge for a nearly random act of the Universe. In other words, trying to defuse the anger you feel toward yourself because you didn’t teach your child how to “walk away”.
There is never any justification for trying a 16-year-old as an adult.