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This story has been major news locally here in Toronto, but people outside of the area might not have heard much about it. This trial has been so sensational that it will also likely wind up as a future Law and Order case. I bring this up here because of how it involves the Internet and online forums. But first, let us begin with a recap of events that have been agreed upon in court. The names have been withheld from public record because all involved are minors. Young offenders in Canada and in some cases their victims, have their identities kept from the public.
In November of 2003, three teens skipped school to hang out for the day at one of their homes. They spent most of the day smoking weed, drinking and playing video games. Things got a bit rowdy and they started trashing things in the basement. They broke beer bottles, furniture and a television.
Later on, one of the young men got a call from his girlfriend at school and they talked a bit. The two had been dating for only a few weeks, and the guy was worried about being able to keep her as she discussed breaking up a few days earlier. He was a self professed auto-vampire who enjoyed sipping his own blood as a form of foreplay. She was a more popular student at school. He thought she was impressed by his vampirism and thought it was a bit of a turn on for her. He bragged about trashing the place. He makes a comment about killing the family of the teen whose house they were trashing.
The girlfriend was alarmed by the comment and later in the afternoon, she and a couple of her friends called him back and got him to talk about it more. They decided to record the call in case things were as serious as she had thought. During this call, the boy and his two friends made further comments about a plan to kill the family. The boyfriend was recorded crying out that "blood was on tap". They discussed using "fists and knives" to carry out the murders. The girl asked "What, you're killing people now? Since when?" and the boy responded "since today". After finishing the call, the girlfriend turned the tape over to her mom who took her to the police.
Later in the day, the stepfather of the house the three teens were in came home. The boyfriend brushed past him and said "I'm so sorry" before leaving for home. The stepfather came upon the other two and they attacked him with a baseball bat. The father managed to fight his way outside, the two teens still beating on him and even ripping his pants off. He flags down a passing cyclist and begs for help. The cyclist calls 911 but the police are already on their way. When they arrived at the scene the police found the two teens, and in the basement, crammed into a crawl space was the body of the teen's brother, dead after 71 knife wounds.
Police later find the third teen and place him under arrest for the murder of the 12 year old brother, given the nickname "Johnathan" to protect his identity and those of the accused. The other two teens are charged with murder as well as assault.
Here's where the stories diverge. According to the accused, the recorded massacre plans were not serious and were just an attempt to impress the girlfriend. They really weren't planning on carrying them out. After school had let out, "Johnathan" came home to discover the mess his brother and his friends had made. The two brother argued and Johnathan said that when their step-father came home, he'd tell him about what happened and the brother won't be able blame Johnathan for it as well. According to the accused, this enraged the brother who grabbed his hunting knife and attacked Johnathan. The brother testified that he was in such a rage that he blacked out until he later found his brother dead before him. He asked the other two teens to help hide the body, and they agreed because they feared he would attack them next. When the step-father came home, the boyfriend fled, mumbling an apology. The step-son told the remaining friend to help attack the step-father before he discovered what they had done.
The prosecution has relied on the taped phone call as their primary evidence that the murder was premeditated and they feel that the three teens should be tried for first degree murder. The girlfriend testified that her boyfriend's bloodthirst scared her a bit and claimed that she did not really like his lifestyle. She said under oath that she felt his vampirism to be childish. She felt scared after the first phone call and thought the boys really were planning a massacre. Forensic tests also show that of the 71 stab wounds, only the last three proved to be fatal as they punctured Johnathan's windpipe, causing him to drown in his own blood. The first 68 wounds were meant more to cause pain than to kill. Those 68 wounds were measured and likely were caused by more than one weapon, countering the defence's theory that the wounds were caused by one weapon in a murderous and uncontrolled rage.
With both sides having presented their cases, the jury was withdrawn to render a verdict. On the second day of deliberations, a newspaper journalist brought to the defence's attention a website where the girlfriend was registered: a goth-themed forum community called Vampire Freaks. In her profile there, she claimed that her turn-ons included knives, pain, blood and cemetaries. She even posted semi-naked pictures of herself so there was no mistake that it was her. In other websites she also wrote about details from the trial including some mocking comments about her former boyfriend having a panic attack during his testimony. The defence brought this up with the judge who had no choice but to recall the jury and declare a mistrial.
There will be a new trial and both the defence and the prosecution (though moreso on the crown attorneys) are under criticism for not having done their research on the girl. Both sides admitted that they did a rudimentary search but found no evidence of the websites in question. Those sites are no longer up though the reporter who discovered them managed to find a cached copy on a search engine. Thousands of public dollars will be spent on a new trial all parties involved will have to wait many more months before they can get the closure they had hoped for when the jury was sent to deliberate last week.
The girlfriend is naturally receiving a lot of the blame from this. The judge said that her behaviour meant that she had either commited perjury or come close enough to it that a mistrial had to be declared. Expert opinions differ on how her forum posts may affect the next trial. Some experts, backed by descriptions of the girl by schoolmates, say that her forum activity may not be a true reflection of her actual personality but rather an alternate online personality. I have seen many people make the same claims here that how they act in the TW community does not reflect who they really are.
Comments?
In November of 2003, three teens skipped school to hang out for the day at one of their homes. They spent most of the day smoking weed, drinking and playing video games. Things got a bit rowdy and they started trashing things in the basement. They broke beer bottles, furniture and a television.
Later on, one of the young men got a call from his girlfriend at school and they talked a bit. The two had been dating for only a few weeks, and the guy was worried about being able to keep her as she discussed breaking up a few days earlier. He was a self professed auto-vampire who enjoyed sipping his own blood as a form of foreplay. She was a more popular student at school. He thought she was impressed by his vampirism and thought it was a bit of a turn on for her. He bragged about trashing the place. He makes a comment about killing the family of the teen whose house they were trashing.
The girlfriend was alarmed by the comment and later in the afternoon, she and a couple of her friends called him back and got him to talk about it more. They decided to record the call in case things were as serious as she had thought. During this call, the boy and his two friends made further comments about a plan to kill the family. The boyfriend was recorded crying out that "blood was on tap". They discussed using "fists and knives" to carry out the murders. The girl asked "What, you're killing people now? Since when?" and the boy responded "since today". After finishing the call, the girlfriend turned the tape over to her mom who took her to the police.
Later in the day, the stepfather of the house the three teens were in came home. The boyfriend brushed past him and said "I'm so sorry" before leaving for home. The stepfather came upon the other two and they attacked him with a baseball bat. The father managed to fight his way outside, the two teens still beating on him and even ripping his pants off. He flags down a passing cyclist and begs for help. The cyclist calls 911 but the police are already on their way. When they arrived at the scene the police found the two teens, and in the basement, crammed into a crawl space was the body of the teen's brother, dead after 71 knife wounds.
Police later find the third teen and place him under arrest for the murder of the 12 year old brother, given the nickname "Johnathan" to protect his identity and those of the accused. The other two teens are charged with murder as well as assault.
Here's where the stories diverge. According to the accused, the recorded massacre plans were not serious and were just an attempt to impress the girlfriend. They really weren't planning on carrying them out. After school had let out, "Johnathan" came home to discover the mess his brother and his friends had made. The two brother argued and Johnathan said that when their step-father came home, he'd tell him about what happened and the brother won't be able blame Johnathan for it as well. According to the accused, this enraged the brother who grabbed his hunting knife and attacked Johnathan. The brother testified that he was in such a rage that he blacked out until he later found his brother dead before him. He asked the other two teens to help hide the body, and they agreed because they feared he would attack them next. When the step-father came home, the boyfriend fled, mumbling an apology. The step-son told the remaining friend to help attack the step-father before he discovered what they had done.
The prosecution has relied on the taped phone call as their primary evidence that the murder was premeditated and they feel that the three teens should be tried for first degree murder. The girlfriend testified that her boyfriend's bloodthirst scared her a bit and claimed that she did not really like his lifestyle. She said under oath that she felt his vampirism to be childish. She felt scared after the first phone call and thought the boys really were planning a massacre. Forensic tests also show that of the 71 stab wounds, only the last three proved to be fatal as they punctured Johnathan's windpipe, causing him to drown in his own blood. The first 68 wounds were meant more to cause pain than to kill. Those 68 wounds were measured and likely were caused by more than one weapon, countering the defence's theory that the wounds were caused by one weapon in a murderous and uncontrolled rage.
With both sides having presented their cases, the jury was withdrawn to render a verdict. On the second day of deliberations, a newspaper journalist brought to the defence's attention a website where the girlfriend was registered: a goth-themed forum community called Vampire Freaks. In her profile there, she claimed that her turn-ons included knives, pain, blood and cemetaries. She even posted semi-naked pictures of herself so there was no mistake that it was her. In other websites she also wrote about details from the trial including some mocking comments about her former boyfriend having a panic attack during his testimony. The defence brought this up with the judge who had no choice but to recall the jury and declare a mistrial.
There will be a new trial and both the defence and the prosecution (though moreso on the crown attorneys) are under criticism for not having done their research on the girl. Both sides admitted that they did a rudimentary search but found no evidence of the websites in question. Those sites are no longer up though the reporter who discovered them managed to find a cached copy on a search engine. Thousands of public dollars will be spent on a new trial all parties involved will have to wait many more months before they can get the closure they had hoped for when the jury was sent to deliberate last week.
The girlfriend is naturally receiving a lot of the blame from this. The judge said that her behaviour meant that she had either commited perjury or come close enough to it that a mistrial had to be declared. Expert opinions differ on how her forum posts may affect the next trial. Some experts, backed by descriptions of the girl by schoolmates, say that her forum activity may not be a true reflection of her actual personality but rather an alternate online personality. I have seen many people make the same claims here that how they act in the TW community does not reflect who they really are.
Comments?
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