Reader comments
Teen boys acquitted by judge

Jeff | 6:01 p.m. June 11, 2009

Bloody movies suck.

What you did was horrible | 8:09 p.m. June 11, 2009

But not bad enough that the judge didn't aquit them?!?!?!

Where are the parents | 5:57 a.m. June 12, 2009

or adults to be found in teaching and rearing their children? It has been my experience that children will rise to the level of expectation placed on them. What do adults expect these kids to become? Who is holding them accountable on a daily basis? Maybe the adults ought to be placed in counseling with expectations?

Comments continue below

uncannygunman | 8:15 a.m. June 12, 2009

I hope these kids never watch Star Wars. They might talk about building a planet-destroying Death Star and get charged with conspiracy to possess WMDs.

I'm glad they got acquitted, but enough with the hand-wringing! The reality is that a private conversation was eavesdropped on and a bunch of adults freaked out. The judge should have rebuked the prosecutor, not the kids.

Nobody | 8:42 a.m. June 12, 2009

It will be interesting to see how these boys end up. I hope its a wake up call to them and their parents. I hope they don't blow the big break they got.

Pitiful | 8:50 a.m. June 12, 2009

Now that kids are supported in planning terrorism, why would there be a law against it? Don't cry and ask WHY, next time someone is murdered at school? How could the courts be so incompetent as to let these criminals off the hook and condone their actions. The parent did the RIGHT thing by reporting this crime in planning by these criminals. These male type people were serious and who could be naive to think other wise? Thanks to the court system for supporting criminals. The justice system is pitiful!

to Where are the parents: | 8:58 a.m. June 12, 2009

Obviously, there was a parent there because they were the ones who overheard the conversation. It also sounds like one of the boys has a mental illness that his parents were already getting help for him until of course until they couldn't afford the medical bills anymore.

Reread the article so you can sound a little bit more intelligent.

re:uncanny gunman | 12:16 p.m. June 12, 2009

Do the names Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold ring a bell? You think this is a joke. What I think is a joke is that these two kids are getting off with basically a slap on the wrist. Society needs stiffer punishments. These two kids need to be monitored constantly. If my kid was attending the same school I would transfer them! I thought we were past the point where we take death threats lightly after so many school shootings.

alawyer | 12:18 p.m. June 12, 2009

This case was bogus from the start. The prosecutor and police were looking for a show trial, not the truth. People talk about murder and gory scenes all the time - especially teenage boys who are the main target of these movies. The mother sounds like she has been looking to dump her son for years - likely too much trouble having him at home with her new husband. A normal parent would have sat down and discussed what they had heard. Don't call the police on your kids - it will always have a bad end.

The judge should have scolded the prosecutor and not the kids - violating someone's constitutional rights is far worse than talking about applying a movie to people that you know - something that I have done - as in - geeze I would like to see what happened in that movie happen to so and so. Anyone else done that? Hmmm?

Get real - kids have rights too - the double standard here is amazing - try them as adults but completely abridge their rights to any form of self expression that adults take for granted.

alawyer | 12:26 p.m. June 12, 2009

The mother, BTW, seemed a bit eager to dump her kid - which is how a lot of kids end up in juvenile institutions - lazy, rotten parents who call the cops at the drop of the hat to get their kids locked up. That is the true shame of the juvenile justice system - children really have no rights - they can be locked up for almost nothing. The truth is that any regular judge would have dismissed these charges outright and the boys would not have spent a second in jail had they been adults. Instead, the one boy spent months in your local juvenile prison system - shackled, handcuffed and generally dehumanized for talking about applying a movie to real life - a very common reaction to a movie. The younger boy also had his rights undermined and was handcuffed, shackled, fingerprinted - and forced to wear an electronic monitor and shamed to the community - his father is an actor, writer, producer and the kid was just talking about plotlines. What if one of these kids is the next Steven King? Not after psychiatric counseling.

Here Is Wisdom | 1:06 p.m. June 12, 2009

Any liberals want to defend the movie "Saw" or any other similar blood and gore movies like it?

Sure, we can just say "no" and refuse to watch it but my point is why would someone want to make garbage like that in the first place?

There is a spiritual side to every human being, EVERY person! To ignore the sensivities of one's spirit is to invite spiritual malnourishment and then disaster.

THIS is the reason that God's prophet, Thomas Monson, encourages us not to watch such filth.

Can you, if you wish? Sure. But others of us are smarter than that.

to here is wisdom | 1:28 p.m. June 12, 2009

Why throw out the "liberal" card, But since you brought it up, it's you right wing neocons that usually love torture isn't that right, or is it only ok is you get a tid bit of false information with it.

To Here is Wisdom | 1:43 p.m. June 12, 2009

Here we go with the "liberals" thing again. I'm very liberal and I'm also very religious and I also am not a fan of Saw, so take your assumptions elsewhere. Why was that comment even necessary?

And btw, didn't you know about the whole free agency part of our gospel? Just because you choose to not watch "filth" (which may include Care Bears for all I know about you), doesn't mean that you are better or more righteous than someone else.

I agree that this kind of gore and nonsense is bad for the spirit and bad for the mind, but I don't carry my little halo around with me everywhere pointing fingers at people who don't believe what I do. I'm glad these boys are getting help. It's a scary world we live in, and ultimately we are responsible for our own choices, whether we watch Saw or not. There are plenty of people who watch violent movies that don't recreate the plots in their spare time. It's not ok, but there's no need to go around fear mongering and accusing people of being less intelligent than you.

Parents | 2:24 p.m. June 12, 2009

Start reading and understandingthe research on how youth react to violent movies, if that is the staple of their viewing.

@Liberals | 3:02 p.m. June 12, 2009

You are the group that say that looking at "gory scenes" or porno doesn't effect people. Well, go ask the convicted murders, peophiles, rapists and the ilk what their upbringing was like. If you heard it from their mouths, you may change your mind, or not. I also think you would find lack of education, opportunities and poor socialization in addition. It is not helping youth by discounting the errors that they make. This only decieves them and helps them learn how to better manulipate laws and consequences.

@RE Uncanny Gunman | 3:25 p.m. June 12, 2009

I am with you. I spent many years as a principal and watched thousands of kids progress through schools. People are kidding themselves if they say it doesn't hurt to watch violence and pornography. I have seen first hand the results of too many kids who were allowed too much freedom, too much time and money for their own good. Nothing replaces good parenting.

@ Here is Wisdom @Liberals et al | 4:59 p.m. June 12, 2009

This has nothing to do with political persuasion, but since you brought it up let's think about the landscape here.

Your fellow conservative and community pillar Larry H. Miller banned Brokeback Mountain from being screened at his theaters, a story about two people who fall in love. Yet, he regularly screened movies such as the Saw series and Hostel which are both all about the murder and torture of innocent people. Innocent YOUNG people.

Miller obviously banned Brokeback Mountain because it was against his religious and conservative beliefs; however, I'm pretty sure murder and torture are considered too. So, please explain to me why it's liberals you are calling out here and not your own kind.

tarkyo | 12:52 a.m. June 19, 2009

Gosh, I miss living in Utah.
I'm not sure that anyone that doesn't have direct contact with the family or the officials can form a reliable opinion, there are just to many variables unknown to general public.
However, the topic seems to have shifted to which political entity is to blame for all the stories suggested wrongdoings, and that is what I wish to add my two cents worth.
The answer is very easy - Every wrong doing...everyone, can be traced to liberalism or liberal ideology as the underline cause, while only a relative small part of all the worlds wrong doings can be connected to Conservatism or Conservative ideology. Therefor, it's an indisputable fact that liberalism is worse then Conservatism and if you eliminate or redirect liberal philosophy, much of this country's evils would be eliminate.

Your Welcome,
It was my pleasure

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