School Shooter Gives Middle Finger During Sentencing Hearing - Comments

This makes me incredibly, incredibly sad and uncomfortable to read. Honestly, I had never even heard about this story until I read this article. You know, in a way I don't know how to feel about this. Most sociopaths who commit murder and end up doing stuff like this (and I'm not saying that all killers are sociopaths or all sociopaths are killers) I can feel bad for. Because if you're sociopathic, you can't feel remorse for what you've done. And that's not your fault. No one asks to be skipped over when they were passing out sympathy and empathy. I know sociopathic people - a guy I know is not emotionally attached to anyone and doesn't care how his actions effect others. He says he wants to feel bad and even knows that he should feel bad so he can correct the behavior, but he can't. He just can't. That's not his fault. Just like mental health issues that drive people to doing acts like this and commit such unfortunate crimes isn't their fault, really. The blood is on their hands of course, but it's also on everyone else's hands for failing to notice that these people could be capable of crimes such as this. It's such an incredibly touchy subject, but I do feel bad for TJ. I do not in anyway support or can I even excuse what he's done to those families, but I don't condemn him either. There's obviously an underlying problem.

geekism:

@ joan2. There have been plenty of cases where innocents have been put to death and were later proven as not guilty, it's true. But that's human error for you, and it will always exist no matter how hard anyone tries to fix it. It's a mistake to prosecute a suspected offender in a case where there is truly lack of evidence. Even without the death penalty in place they still spend their entire lives behind bars, which is really no more justifiable.

The more and more I learn about the judicial system the more and more I disagree with it. I don't know what it's like in Canada, but in America the judicial system is notorious for being racially prejudice. This meaning African Americans are more likely to be imprisoned for crimes that they either did/didn't do and serve more time than other races. Because of this racism, I don't agree with the death penalty because I know that chances are, there will be a high number of African Americans that will receive a wrongful death.

@ geekism

1. The only way to reduce the amount of time a prisoner on death row spends "waiting" is to eliminate rounds of appeal which - unless you wish to reduce human rights even further to the abysmal levels found in countries such as China and Iran - is not going to happen.

2. It is no more justifiable but it is at least more rectifiable unless you're a high level necromancer and can bring back people from the dead.

@ joan

1. The actual death sentencing is far less expensive than keeping an inmate for life in prison without parole, actually. The more costly bits which add to the tally are things like making people wait on death row for years, in a higher security prison, where people are paid more and the place is built far more secure. But making the death sentence more prominent would push things along at a quicker pace, making it all less expensive.

2. There have been plenty of cases where innocents have been put to death and were later proven as not guilty, it's true. But that's human error for you, and it will always exist no matter how hard anyone tries to fix it. It's a mistake to prosecute a suspected offender in a case where there is truly lack of evidence. Even without the death penalty in place they still spend their entire lives behind bars, which is really no more justifiable.

@ joan.
I used to agree with the death sentence, but I don't so much anymore because for 1. Most of the prison population is African American's who spend longer terms than others for the same or similar crime. We're also targeted more. And 2. I don't believe many people should die because a lot of people who commit such crimes have issues.

@ geekism
Of course there are better ways. I don't know how they'll achieve it, though. The American system is already fucked up.

@ geekism

1. It costs way, way more to execute someone than to keep them alive.

2. If the judicial system is ALREADY flawed then why are you adding the possibility of making it a LIFE AND DEATH scenario? Heaven help you if you're innocent.

@ Ayana Sioux
I think you may have missed my point. Mentally draining or not, there are better ways to spend tax dollars. I'm not American, but Canada treats criminals the same as States whom don't condone the death penalty. The judicial system is flawed and it will never be perfect, but it's hard to justify keeping such twisted minds alive.

Disgusting human being. That's all I can say.

I studied TJ Lane last year when this story broke through, and eventually I had to give up on looking at the case. I had to push every thought of it out of my mind each night before I tried to sleep. I tried to understand why he did such a horrific thing to people he knew for so long, and when I couldn't figure it out after three months of investigating, I just broke into tears. Just thinking about it now, from way back then is giving me goosebumps. So this article definitely brings back some unpleasant memories.

I'm not quite sure how to put what I feel into words. I (partially) agree with what ur_best_nightmare and Ayana Sioux said. TJ hasn't let out much about why he killed those three boys (probably more if he had the chance). Everybody assumes that his difficult upbringing attributes to it, that he was just a sick bastard in general. But I doubt we will ever know what truly happened to trigger TJ's break.

During the trial when police asked him why he shot the three boys, his response was simply, "I don't know." And then was followed by, "I don't really understand myself." I think his mind has taken a route in which he thinks he's happy with what he's done, for what he did that day, because it really doesn't know how else to react. Since he can't understand himself, he has to literally choose how he views what he did, and this is how he views his crimes. I think the other quote from the courtroom is even more disturbing; "This hand that pulled the trigger that killed your sons now masturbates to the memory." Isn't that just frightening?

His Facebook account was just as disturbing. I printed a short story he posted on Facebook, and studied it, and analyzed it for a month. The moral of the story was so crystal clear; do not think that others are below you. But the way the story ended was the most... scary of it all. The main character killed the kings and queens of the story, who were actually whores and corrupt politicians. It just shows how he viewed things. Did he see his school as a town full of corrupt kings, and prostituting queens? Just a thought.

I don't know how to say it without sounding like I'm saying, "Oh poor him." I'm not saying that at all, actually. He does deserve the sentence he received, and I don't have an opinion on the death penalty. The families and friends of the boys have been scarred for the rest of their lives, and I can only wish them the best as time goes on. I don't even know what the point of this comment is really. So many emotions are resurfacing, I'm almost in tears again.

You did a nice job on your article. I liked that you used sources.

While I was reading this, I wondered if he had a personality disorder or something...

he disgusts me

@ WhoAreYouJudy

It is an issue so readily ignored by every other media outlet and whilst this is a small article...this all adds up.

Before I say this, I've literally been told that I am empathetic to a fault.

That being said, it saddened me so much to read the quote about him being an evil person. Yes, that was a very evil thing to do, and he does deserve the sentence that he got. But I don't think that anybody is truly evil. This boy has to be mentally instable in someway, and I don't even know if he should be in prison. Perhaps an insane asylum. Definitely locked away from the public, because based on this trial, he would happily kill again. But I definitely sense some kind of psychotic disconnect here.

His mental (in)capactiy does not excuse his actions in any way, shape, or form. He didn't just kill three kids with their futures ahead of them, he permanently scarred their families and then laughed in their faces about it. I just feel like to call someone evil is to strip them of all rights to the title of human, even if he is a f*cked up one. And the death penalty...just no. No one should ever just be killed because its the easy way out. Not all criminals are like this; some deserve second chances and make the most of them. That is all.

I live right by Chardon. I remember what i was doing a year ago when I found out about the shooting. One of my close friends was friends with TJ. He talked to him every day. Its just crazy to think about..

@ geekism
Well, regarding what you said about prison and the meals and etc. That doesn't matter too much because if you really talked to anyone that was in a maximum security prison, it's not a nice life. It's mentally draining and unhealthy.

@ joan.
I agree. I had this issue myself.

Here's what I personally think, I see a lot of hate comments below (what I already expected) but I'm the type of person who likes to seek to understand before being understand. Understand this, I don't believe in anyone killing anyone and I believe killing is a heinous crime. But what do we know about this guy? Do any of us understand his story? Does it not occur to any of you all that if someone will actually have such blatant disrespect and disregard of the life of those individuals that something is deeply wrong with this person?

He didn't walk in there looking like Ted Bundy. The guy came in there with almost a sense of happiness of his crime. There is some kind of disconnect there. One thing I've learned about males in regard to psychological struggles is that some of them will act out in very violent ways but be very seclusive about why they committed such crimes. Think of it this way, have you ever tried to get a secret out of a guy? How hard was it in comparison to a girl?

Anyway, I'm happy he's in prison, but my vibes tell me a different story about this guy, a story that will probably die with him. But I wouldn't call him a disgusting human being. I try not to speak with such assumption.

Regarding the comment a few below me, I don't think posting a small article on Mibba creates copycats... Mibba isn't CNN or ABC or Fox news. Also it was written based on previous written articles, it's the matter of a link to another link.
But anyways, yeah very well-written article, I actually hadn't heard of this happening so thanks for the information.
I can't believe the kid had the balls to say fuck you to those families. No matter what beef or anger you have towards the students are your school, how dare you say that to their loved ones. If I was in that courtroom and he had killed/hurt one of my loved ones I probably would have shit on the kid. Verbally, of course....

I don't understand how people can be so heartless and sick like him. I'm just glad he's behind bars, even though he still hasn't realised that what he did was wrong and is still acting like a cocky jerk.

Prison is not a punishment for him. He will sit for his entire life and relish the memory of murdering three students. He does not have the capacity to feel remorse. He will get three square meals a day, a warm place to sleep, free health care, and a small job with an allowance. Prison means you lose your independence but this beast will be living more comfortably than many hardworking people do.

I'm sorry but you've fallen into the same trap as many do when reporting this sort of thing. To a lesser extent than many other media outlets but nevertheless.

By underlining certain aspects of his behaviour, by showing his face and his name, by all sorts of reasons...you're part of the problem. You've not went as ridiculously emotive and unwittingly (or perhaps wittingly) glorifying him as the vast majority of news outlets so there is at least that.

Whilst violent media such as video games and movies have "links" (very bullshitty links since there is no methodological rigor and there are overblown conceptual issues), what is more known is the effect that how you report these events can have on copycat events. High saturation, using the name over and over, using the images, even to emotive language use often can initiate a certain "anti-hero" aspect to the perpetrator - making such an act of violence to seem aspirational in nature. It is no coincidence that attempts (successful and nonsuccessful) to replicate in some way such events are often at their highest after a week of highly saturated media cover.

Now, I am not blaming you nor am I saying that your article could. I think you've probably did a more mindful job than others could. However, it is something that we all need to keep in mind when discussing things like this. Someone called this "attention seeking" in the comments below...and it's worked, hasn't it? Such events should only be reported locally and with as little emotion as possible and certainly should not be made rolling news coverage.