Jury Convicts Teen in School Shooting
TODD RICHMOND Associated Press Writer
BARABOO, Wis.-A jury on Thursday convicted a 16-year-old boy of shooting his high school principal to death after the boy brought a rifle and revolver to school last fall.
Eric Hainstock was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide in Weston Schools Principal John Klang's death last year. He could face up to life in prison at his sentencing, which was scheduled for Friday morning.
Hainstock's attorneys have conceded he killed Klang. They argued the teen was troubled, suffered from attention deficit disorder and was mocked in school. They said he brought the guns to school only to make people listen and he never meant to kill Klang.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
BARABOO, Wis. (AP) - A 16-year-old boy shot his principal on purpose, lied about the gun going off during a struggle and has been trying to blame others ever since, prosecutors said Thursday in closing arguments of the teen's murder trial.
Eric Hainstock's attorneys conceded that he fatally shot Weston Schools Principal John Klang on homecoming last fall but said he had attention deficit disorder, had been abused at home and was teased by other students. They said he went to school with guns to make people listen to his problems - not to kill.
The jury began deliberating Hainstock's fate later Thursday.
Prosecutor Patricia Barrett told jurors that Hainstock's anger toward Klang had been growing in the two weeks leading to the Sept. 29 shooting.
Klang had kicked him out of school for three days after the boy threw a stapler at his special education teacher. The day before the shooting, Klang gave Hainstock an in-school suspension for having tobacco, Barrett said.
"This isn't about reckless. This is about intentional. Find him guilty," Barrett told jurors in laying out her case for a conviction on a first-degree murder charge.
The jury must decide that Hainstock intended to kill Klang the moment he pulled the trigger to support that charge, which carries a life term.
Hainstock's attorneys had asked the boy repeatedly during his testimony Wednesday whether he meant to kill the principal.
"No, I didn't," Hainstock said. "I didn't plan to hurt nobody."
Hainstock's attorneys have conceded he killed Klang. But they convinced Judge Patrick Taggart to ask the jury to also consider whether Hainstock is guilty of first- or second-degree reckless homicide. Those charges require a finding only of reckless conduct.
A charge of first-degree reckless homicide carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison. Second-degree reckless homicide is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Hainstock, then a 15-year-old freshman, took a shotgun and a revolver to Weston Schools, just outside Cazenovia in the bluffs and ridges about 65 miles northwest of Madison.
A janitor saw him and tore the shotgun from the boy, but Hainstock pulled out the revolver and ran into Klang in a hallway, prosecutors said. Klang tackled him and the boy shot him three times, the complaint said.
Two students testified they heard Hainstock say Klang wouldn't survive homecoming. The janitor and a guidance counselor heard Hainstock say he was at the school to kill someone, according to Barrett.
As for the teasing, Hainstock instigated much of it himself: "It's all about Eric. 'Poor me. I had a tough life.'"
Holding out a photograph of Hainstock's filthy, cluttered house, his attorney Jon Helland urged jurors not to ignore Hainstock's tough life. The teen's stepbrother assaulted him when he was 6, and social workers placed him with his grandmother for about a year after his father abused him, Helland said.
Helland acknowledged Hainstock started some teasing matches but did so because he craved attention.
On the morning of the shooting, the boy didn't see much in his future. His grades were slipping, kids were still teasing him, his parents were bossing him around and he felt trapped, Helland said.
"It cascades. It's like a dam the water just busts through," Helland said.
Why he went to school with loaded guns may never be known for sure, he said.
"You want a good explanation why he did this? You're not going to get one. He's a kid," Helland said. "We don't know. And he may not know. A lot of teenagers can't answer that question. They just can't."
If Hainstock intended to kill someone, he wouldn't have walked into school brandishing the shotgun like a "neon sign." He just would have started shooting, Helland said.
