European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 19, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse I get the sense that most parents seem sympathetic to the boy but people who Don t have kids Are More Likely to say string him up " said Terri Brandenburg a desk clerk at the hideaway a resort for couples in the Hills nearby. This is an area unaccustomed to serious crime. Life Here is slow enough that a local paper last week included an item headlined Farmer injured by cow " people May lock doors to their Homes at night but Many still leave their car doors unlocked. This is normally a quiet place said District attorney e. David Christine things like this Aren t supposed to happen he said Monroe county population 80,000. Averages about one homicide a year. To Many people Here that is exactly Why the shooting seems particularly horrifying according to court records it had snowed heavily March 6, so that classes at Polk elementary school where Cameron was a fourth Grade student. I were cancelled. Cameron s father was working at a local Sand and gravel Supply firm. His wife of 16 years was also at work and she called Home to Tell their Only child to go next door to play with the six children of Richard Atli. There Cameron played spy Hunter on the Rattis Nintendo video game with his Best Friend Chris Ratti who is also 9. Nearby Jessica Ann Carr 7, played with a half dozen other children in the House. Shortly after noon Richard Rialti who manages his father s real estate holdings ordered the children to Stop playing the game because someone had left dirty dishes out. Arguing that it was not his fault Cameron stormed Back to his House alone. Once Home he went upstairs to his parents Wood panelled bedroom where 10 rifles stood in a Glass encased gun Cabinet. Cameron took the Cabinet key from under a bedside lamp unlocked the Cabinet and took out a .35 Caliper lever action Martin Hunting Rifle equipped with a 20-Power scope. He unlocked the ammunition drawer and loaded the gun with a single Remington Cartridge. Moving to the bed he unlocked the window raised the Glass and removed the window screen. About 100 Yards off to his right and near a Chicken Coop in the Ratti s 3-acre Back Yard Jessica Carr was Riding behind her Friend Shannon Ratti on a snowmobile moving at about the Pace of walk according to testimony. About 1 10 p.m., a shot was fired and Jessica who had been hugging Shannon slumped Forward and fell off j the vehicle. Jessica was carried to the House children Are involved in about 250 shooting deaths each year in the United states. Most cases Are handled by the juvenile court system where hearings Are closed and the emphasis is on treatment of the accused rather than on punishment. Where she was Laid on the shag carpet in the Ratti s Wood panelled living room. She died in Richard Ratti s arms. Jessica s Mother Donna Carr who was visiting the Rattis began to scream and Ratti fearing that a gunman was Loose in the neighbourhood telephoned Cameron and told him to run Back to the Ratti House. When Cameron came to the House and saw the body on the floor he had no immediate reaction but walked off into an adjacent room where he told Ratti s son Brian Ratti 12, Don t think about it and you won t be sad according to testimony. Wearing a Garfield to shirt with nobody knows the trouble i be seen on it Cameron was questioned along with the other children by Pennsylvania state troopers who arrived to investigate. Trooper Clark Miltor testified that he began to focus his investigation on Cameron when the youth gave conflicting explanations about the Crescent shaped Cut on his forehead above his right Eye. The boy told one trooper he fell on a saw and then later told trooper Ritter he Cut himself with a knife while making a Sandwich. Police now say the wound was caused by the scope s hitting the boy s forehead As he fired the Rifle. Ritler said that As he terminated a Brief interview with the boy and his parents in their Home the boy blurted out ii was All a terrible about seven hours after the shooting the boy was arrested his Miranda rights were read to him As he sat on his Mother s Lap. Cameron has since acknowledged firing a shot and has turned Over to investigators the spent Shell casing. But he does not admit aiming at the Little girl or intentionally firing at her. Neighbors remain unsure about Why the shooting occurred. According to his therapist and family friends Cameron has regressed since the shooting to where he sits in his Mother s Lap and is reluctant to leave her Side when company is in the Home. Therapists say he has failed to make the connection Between the shot he fired and the Bullet that killed Jessica Ann Carr. He told one therapist had no dreams about what happened. But he also told the Stroudsburg psychiatrist who is treating him or. Martha Turnberg that in dreams about earlier court hearings adults in the courtroom appeared As dinosaurs. The judge he serious crime arrest rates Are highest in Young age groups. Arrest rate per 100,000 age eligible population property crime arrest rates Peak at age 16, drop in Hall by age 22. Violent crime arrest rates Peak at age 18. 20 30 40 so source Fri uniform crime reports 3-year averages. 1983-85. 1 said appeared As a Dinosaur dressed in a Tuxedo. In his 40-Page opinion judge Vican agreed with a psychiatrist testifying for the prosecution has the capacity to commit murder and is competent to stand trial. He also said there was insufficient proof that he would be amenable to treatment in the juvenile Justice system. The judge said testimony that Cameron s father versed him in How to Load and fire a Rifle and that the Rifle requires eight pounds of pressure to pull the trigger Are factors working against defense arguments that the shooting was an Accident. He also noted the apparent deliberate Ness of Cameron s Steps unlocking both the gun Cabinet and ammo drawer taking but the bedroom window screen and then looking through the scope of the Rifle. He added that it was Cameron s calculating action after the shooting As much As the brutality of the shooting itself that convinced him the boy should be tried As an adult. The boy exhibited a mature sophisticated thought process in removing the gun from the Cabinet loading and shooting the Rife returning the Rifle to the Cabinet attempting to conceal evidence and lying to both the police and his Mother about How he received the Cut on his head the judge wrote. The Rochers declined comment by Hansford said he would continue to fight to have the Case transferred to juvenile courts arguing that the youth s age makes it impossible to prepare an adequate defense. None of the traditional tools Are there Hansford said. How do you communicate with him How do you get him to understand what s going on How do you know he understands it s he said there had Only been two other cases recorded in Legal files of children in that age Range being tried for murder As adults one in Alabama in 1858, the other in 1860 in new Jersey. Both involved 11-year-Olds. The new Jersey conviction was reversed by the state supreme court he said. The charge of criminal homicide is an open ended one leaving it up to the jury or judge at trial to decide Between first degree or second degree murder or manslaughter Pazuhanich said he thought the Case contained sufficient evidence for first degree murder conviction a charge that carries a life sentence. But no one seems quite sure of what sentence if any would be right for Cameron. You have to Stop and wonder what do you do with a kid like that said Ratti. That s the question everybody is up graphic 60 65 the club for the incredibly stupid and dumb beyond belief is dub was not founded by me. It was begun by a Friend of mine in the East who thought there should be a tangible award for turning a simple situation into a disaster. You can t give a Heisman trophy for something like that. So a confession to such a deed is rewarded with a statue of a creature with a Potbelly and a club in its hand. Someone had bought it at a garage Sale. Like a Torch it is passed from one incompetent to another. My Friend got it for sitting up All night in a living room chair waiting for her teen age son to come Home Only to learn after a restless night and a sore Back that he had come in through the Kitchen door around 11. She in turn passed it on to a Friend who thought he left the Lens Cap to his new camera in a shop in Mexico. After hours of retracing his Steps to All the stores he had visited he discovered the Lens was retractable and opened and closed with a flip of the Finger. The ugly is dub statue found its Way West when my husband told them the Story of How he left his passport on top of a hotel to set in London and had to pay an empty cab $40 to pick it up and Rush it to the Airport. I can t remember the reason he sent it Back East but the statue broke in transit and he got it right Back for being dumb enough to Send it in a shoe Box wrapped Only in tissue in the first place. We have kept it Ever since because we realized we had enough is dub candidates within our family to keep it moving briskly for the rest of our lives., my Mother paid $3,000 to buy a Battery driven chair for my father to tool around the House Only to discover it would t fit through the door frames. We did t give her the is dub trophy until she sold the car for $1,000. Saturday August 19,1989 pouring boiling water from a Spaghetti pot Down my stomach did t make me stupid enough for the award. Telling my Mother about it did. My daughter got it when she was sucking so hard on a Tootsie Roll with her Tongue that it caused a blood Blister to pop under her Tongue. A couple of Days ago i was running Barefoot through the House. I have made a million speeches to people who visit us in the desert about running around in Bare feet. It is one of my More inspiring speeches. We have a lot of animals Here who take a dim View of being stepped on. I stepped on a scorpion. In bed with my toot on fire i waited for the ugly statue with the Potbelly and the club in its hand to appear. Finally the family gathered around and said i would have permanent Possession of the award. I had just been named to the stupid Hall of Fame. They All applauded. You la excuse me if i Don t get up 1989 Emu Bombyk the stars and stripes Page 17
