Shoot your classmate and win a prize!
 

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/05/14/...ice/index.html

He pleaded no contest to the first count; the second charge was dropped. He got six years of probation, a $1,000 fine and 240 hours of community service. He avoided any jail time, and the plea also mandated that he "remain in college and complete your college degree," according to court transcripts. The sentence was not the judge's idea, but he followed the prosecutor's recommendation. DOUBLE YOU TEE EFF

He shot someone and all it cost him was $1,000 and probation, and a lil community service? AND he gets to continue going to college. I'm sorry.. the mother *%!)*(*@ SHOT A CLASSMATE AND GETS TO GO BACK TO COLLEGE? OH HELL NO. His ass belongs in jail, not on the campus where he tried to kill someone.

This seems to "good" to be true. Usually when a shooting occurs, the DA will decorate the defendant with enough charges to cover a christmas tree: criminal possession of a weapon, aggravated assault, attempted murder, etc...

I think that if I (about as clean of a record as one can have, education, connections, references, etc...) got a gun, and shot someone under the exact same circumstances, I doubt I could get a plea even close to being that good, almost regardless of extenuating circumstances.

The only reasons I can imagine why the events transpired the way they did, was if a) the DA had a vested interest in letting the guy off due to a personal relationship or a "donation", or b) if the story is not quite as clear cut as the media would have us believe (what's the history of the victim?).

My guess it's the latter, simply because no DA would offer a plea like that to a true criminal, unless there were additional factors to consider, simply because of the possible political implications to his further career, and the possible public outrage, as clearly illustrated here.

So now, we're going to have all this outrage (and it's entirely possible that the circumstances warranted it), and all it is going to do, is force the DA to press charges as stringently as possible in all cases... which is unlikely to benefit anyone.

Norris would not go on camera with CNN, and neither would his attorney. But his lawyer said that at the time of the shooting, his client felt his life was threatened and was defending himself. ... the guy puts a gun to another man's head, then when the other guy grabs his wrist he fires and claims it was self defense? It takes balls to spew that much bullshit.

The assistant district attorney who made the plea deal could not be reached for comment. His boss, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard, said that the prosecutor of the case has resigned and that he would have been fired for his handling of this case. Howard feels a stiffer penalty was warranted.

"We are sorry this happened for so many reasons," Howard said. "When something like this happens, I am very upset by it."

He added, "It was an inappropriate sentence." Seriously.. can't they declare a mistrial or something? Even the DA is outraged over this. At least the person who botched this got canned.

I can't help but wonder that there was some sort of connection between the shooter and the assistant DA. You do NOT make it to assistant DA and pull a jackass stunt like that. A true idiot would never make it that far.. He had to know he was going to get fired for it.

IMO, it sounds like the kind of plea deal a celebrity would get.

crazyworld, i dont see this ending here though

And yet they'll try 13 year olds as adults if they commit a felony with a firearm!?

Maybe he claimed GTA4 made him do it and he's willing to testify to that?

I don't agree with the shooting, but I do agree with putting him back to college.