# Another School Shooting \[Stoneman Douglas\] (2/14/2018) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 14, 2018, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-school-shooting-stoneman-douglas-2-14-2018/808843 "2018-02-14T20:22:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 32
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2022, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-school-shooting-stoneman-douglas-2-14-2018/808843/621 "2022-11-07T06:55:23Z")
If someone killed my kid, I don’t give a shit about what the judicial system should be. I’d burn down the world to get the guy who did it. At least, I assume. I don’t have kids, but I also have enough sense not to lecture someone who’s suffered the worst tragedy imaginable about the importance of civics. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2022, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-school-shooting-stoneman-douglas-2-14-2018/808843/622 "2022-11-07T11:16:57Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > If someone killed my kid, I don’t give a shit about what the judicial system should be. I’d burn down the world to get the guy who did it. I would too. And it would be society’s duty to stop me. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2022, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-school-shooting-stoneman-douglas-2-14-2018/808843/623 "2022-11-07T11:28:14Z")
And yet there are people who have suffered that tragedy and don’t go off the rails. My point is that the court should not run on bloodlust. Simple enough for you? By the way, have you ever been falsely accused of a crime, to the point of getting arrested? ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2022, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-school-shooting-stoneman-douglas-2-14-2018/808843/624 "2022-11-07T11:37:26Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > And yet there are people who have suffered that tragedy and don’t go off the rails. My point is that the court should not run on your bloodlust. Simple enough for you? He never said it should. He’s saying he might feel that way, and that we shouldn’t criticize the parent for feeling that way. That is not at all the same as saying the justice system should accomodate them. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2022, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-school-shooting-stoneman-douglas-2-14-2018/808843/625 "2022-11-07T14:06:52Z")
I’m criticizing a system that has people in court stating their desires for someone to be raped and murdered. The justice system is accommodating that. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2022, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-school-shooting-stoneman-douglas-2-14-2018/808843/626 "2022-11-07T14:13:40Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > …but I also have enough sense not to lecture someone who’s suffered the worst tragedy imaginable about the importance of civics. Good thing no one is doing that here. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2022, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-school-shooting-stoneman-douglas-2-14-2018/808843/627 "2022-11-07T17:15:18Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > And yet there are people who have suffered that tragedy and don’t go off the rails. My point is that the court should not run on bloodlust. Simple enough for you? Oh, for fuck’s sake. I’m not arguing for how I think the justice system should work, I’m showing empathy to a person who has suffered immensely by not launching into a finger wagging lecture because he said something politically incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2022, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-school-shooting-stoneman-douglas-2-14-2018/808843/628 "2022-11-07T17:16:46Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > I’m criticizing a system that has people in court stating their desires for someone to be raped and murdered. The justice system is accommodating that. You’re doing more than that. > [@Monty](#): > > Personally, I don’t understand wishing someone gets raped. Maybe that’s a flaw in my character. I do understand hoping the court sentences somone to death, although I disagree with that as I am absolutely against capital punishment. I simply do not understand hoping someone gets murdered. Maybe that’s another flaw in my character. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2022, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-school-shooting-stoneman-douglas-2-14-2018/808843/629 "2022-11-07T17:39:47Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > > [@Miller](#): > > > > . I’d burn down the world to get the guy who did it. > > I would too. And it would be society’s duty to stop me Exactly. I would understand that your feeling is genuine… and not to be allowed to be exercised. “I understand” does not have to mean “I agree”. Explanation is not justification. OTOH yes, _maybe_ Victim Impact Statements in some venues are being turned into rant sessions just so the anger can be made part of the record, since the Court itself may not spew hatred. AIUI the purpose was in reaction to a notion that trials had become sterile legalese processes where the hurt inflicted on victims and survivors counted for nothing. At least now they get a voice, if not a vote. But it is important to remember, rule of law requires that verdicts and sentences be based on the facts and law and not the feelings. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2023, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-school-shooting-stoneman-douglas-2-14-2018/808843/630 "2023-04-13T22:43:22Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > You are uncritically accepting the reports of grieving families, an elected judge, prosecutors in an adversarial system within a deep red state with a taste for the death penalty, and sensationalized/cherry-picked media reports when it comes to describing the conduct of defense attorneys who have just succeeded in sparing their child-murdering client from the death penalty. As if there wouldn’t be a strong incentive for _all_ of these parties to represent those attorneys in the worst possible light, and a concomitant tendency for the general public to—as you have—accept and repeat such reports at face value. Because who the fuck would ever stand up for someone who could defend the murderer of so many children, right? > > So congratulations on that, I guess. You’re just like everyone else. > > ETA: But, I mean, if these defense attorneys are such a shit-show… what must that say about the prosecution, if they couldn’t get their desired outcome, or the judge for apparently being unable to prevent these big bad public defenders with commanding five-figure salaries from making a comedy of the state’s attempt to stick a needle in the arm of a mentally ill wreck of a human being? Once more, I’m left wondering why—even if the reports are actually 100% true and accurate—it’s the public defender that should get fired, rather than the DA or the judge. I mean which is it, are they dealing with circus clowns or reincarnations of Clarence Darrow? Following up on my own post, in which I posit that the accusations of improper conduct levied against the defense team are perhaps unfair mischaracterizations by the press, the DA, and even the judge to note that the Florida Supreme Court, oddly enough, would appear to agree that the judge may have appeared unfairly biased in favor of the prosecution: > **[Judge who sentenced Parkland shooter removed from other case](https://apnews.com/article/florida-judge-parkland-murder-trial-9044c680febc97557046a83be7ef15dd)** > > The judge who oversaw the sentencing of the Parkland massacre gunman won't be able to oversee proceedings in another murder case involving the death penalty. The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that Judge Elizabeth Scherer showed... I must say I’m kindly amazed to see Florida’s Supreme Court taking this action to actually safeguard the rights of criminal defendants. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2023, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-school-shooting-stoneman-douglas-2-14-2018/808843/631 "2023-05-31T16:02:13Z")
> **[Florida deputy faces trial for alleged failure to confront Parkland school...](https://apnews.com/article/scot-peterson-parkland-school-shooting-6b5cecf4eca72530f868466e578ce82e)** > > A former Florida sheriff's deputy is about to be tried on charges he failed to confront the gunman who murdered 17 at a Parkland high school five years ago. Scot Peterson could get a nearly 100-year sentence if convicted of felony child neglect. Jury... ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2023, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-school-shooting-stoneman-douglas-2-14-2018/808843/632 "2023-05-31T16:07:26Z")
I hope he is acquitted. Armed school resource officers will never be a viable solution to school shootings. It is a fantasy we cling to because we have been paralyzed into inaction on other fronts. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2023, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-school-shooting-stoneman-douglas-2-14-2018/808843/633 "2023-06-01T04:15:01Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > I must say I’m kindly amazed to see Florida’s Supreme Court taking this action to actually safeguard the rights of criminal defendants. Maybe they see the writing on the wall. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-school-shooting-stoneman-douglas-2-14-2018/808843/634 "2023-06-30T03:42:41Z")
He’s been acquitted (the deputy sheriff charged with child neglect, that is). I cannot imagine the trauma this must have been for him, put forward as a lone scapegoat to atone for the sins of a nation that has failed utterly to protect its children. Gift link to NYT article, [Jury Acquits Deputy Who Failed to Confront Parkland Gunman](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/29/us/parkland-shooting-scot-peterson-verdict.html?unlocked_article_code=3wdwralPGQE15maQ4Ff18Km3L2N-k3Ew32e1PnlIDO60YR1toF9Xvkxkk2fp7hzUWDvv4xe_magmJd2uu4uic2ykRtxy33KRIjGDzlcm1P_uinu_MHFOAu86BNBEpoFvlmvq4mVpgTAaPJwQutTCYmefu47THuhpjH_JD29Ghrv3aWG1xaToHyr-jSCE4HQx-yjHZu9MvmuIzqQvDbfhK4iFhtkc1Z8VFGyhqBuTePjmvAxTs9FIHLsC3F7QKMZXO9T2L4_T1ZRj3qJA5Hmii04NIt0sdB7WDpWQgiKy8F-h6t6qC5TrP6AXaEUWFJP3R-ObX-RCfdJszhsycTkUf3u4VjXkelEXLSUk8pQ&smid=url-share) (tried to make it a standard previewable link, but I guess it’s too long for discourse to accommodate like that). ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-school-shooting-stoneman-douglas-2-14-2018/808843/635 "2023-06-30T04:41:56Z")
This is the only place where I’ve seen support for this acquittal. As with Uvalde, far too many people dropped assorted balls (and in the Parkland case, it was allowing the shooter to walk free when it was obvious almost from birth that he had no place in free society). ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-school-shooting-stoneman-douglas-2-14-2018/808843/636 "2023-06-30T07:50:12Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > Following up on my own post, in which I posit that the accusations of improper conduct levied against the defense team are perhaps unfair mischaracterizations by the press, the DA, and even the judge to note that the Florida Supreme Court, oddly enough, would appear to agree that the judge may have appeared unfairly biased in favor of the prosecution: > > [Judge who sentenced Parkland shooter removed from other case | AP News](https://apnews.com/article/florida-judge-parkland-murder-trial-9044c680febc97557046a83be7ef15dd) > > I must say I’m kindly amazed to see Florida’s Supreme Court taking this action to actually safeguard the rights of criminal defendants. The judge has [since announced her resignation](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/judge-presided-parkland-school-shooting-trial-announces-resignation-rcna83905). Less than a month later, she was [reprimanded](https://apnews.com/article/florida-parkland-judge-scherer-shooting-6f09c0b36a17c0190d2478534fa993f8) by the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-school-shooting-stoneman-douglas-2-14-2018/808843/637 "2023-06-30T13:22:32Z")
Wow, that is a pretty stinging rebuke. Well deserved, IMHO, and hopefully a caution to all to be skeptical of claims that people assigned to defend an unpopular client must themselves be villainous scum—even if the judge treats them like they are, and the media just eats it up. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2023, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-school-shooting-stoneman-douglas-2-14-2018/808843/638 "2023-07-04T12:52:05Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > This is the only place where I’ve seen support for this acquittal. > > As with Uvalde, far too many people dropped assorted balls (and in the Parkland case, it was allowing the shooter to walk free when it was obvious almost from birth that he had no place in free society). The two are not comparable. There were nearly 400 LEOs wandering aroubd outside Ulvade, and children unambiguously died because of the 45 minutes they hesitated. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-school-shooting-stoneman-douglas-2-14-2018/808843.md?page=31)