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August 26, 2010
The cold, flat eyes of a killer teen
Most news organizations have a policy of not publishing information about juveniles who commit crimes -- mirroring a general societal belief that minors ought not be exposed to the harsh glare of public condemnation, lest it forever tarnish their shiny, new reputations, causing irreparable harm to their self esteem.
The theory is that children can be salvaged, and their crimes are often the result of immature impulse control.
Within certain limits, the idea has some merit -- as in, minor crime, Huck Finn sort of stuff, stealing a pack of gum or setting off firecrackers in the girl's bathroom.
But extending that shield to the most heinous crimes has never made sense; rape, murder, robbery, torture are all crimes which reveal an inner malevolence that demands that the rest of us be put on notice as to the identity of the feral predators who lope amongst us, looking for prey.
Gaze upon the face of another irredeemable, stone cold killer.
Arteesha Holt, 14, walked up to Wilmer Bonilla, 26, and Jose Rodolfo Gonzalez-Coreas, 43, a little before 10 o'clock at night; the two men were sitting on the front steps of a Baltimore row house, presumably enjoying the warm summer night. Holt pulled out a gun and demanded the men hand over their cash.
Coreas laughed, probably at the incongruity of a middle-aged man being robbed by a girl young enough to be his granddaughter.
Big mistake.
She shot him in the forehead; doctors kept him on life support long enough to harvest his organs.
According to Baltimore police, Holt may have been taking part in a gang initiation. The killer teen reportedly told friends about what she had done; shame, not surprisingly, does not appear to be in her moral lexicon.
I'm a firm believer in the existence of evil, that we all must decide on a daily basis to make decisions: right or wrong, help or harm. And there are acts so depraved, so devoid of even a spark of humanity, that there is no hope of redemption, rehabilitation a fool's errand.
Arteesha Holt took a man's life because he had the nerve to laugh at her.
My condolences to the family of Mr. Coreas.
May his killer rot, never again allowed contact with the rest of society.
Posted by Mike Lief at August 26, 2010 07:11 AM
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Comments
Born into oblivion. Wasted life. Trauma. Pain. Same as it ever was.
Posted by: William Marwood at August 26, 2010 11:14 PM