Jonesboro School Shooter Set to Be Released

[Miagi]

I meant to post this in the morning, but I couldn't find it in enough time before my class started. I saw it on tv.

I believe in rehabilitation and not throwing away such a young persons life.. but 7 years just isn't enough..

Aug. 10, 2005 — Mitchell Johnson, one of two people convicted in the 1998 Jonesboro, Ark., schoolyard shootings that left five people dead, is set to be released from federal custody on Thursday.

Gretchen Woodard, Johnson's mother, told a local newspaper her son will not move back to Arkansas after he leaving a federal detention center near Memphis, Tenn. She said Johnson wants to become a minister. However, her words have brought little comfort to many in the Jonesboro community who are angry at Johnson's impending release.


Mitchell Wright, whose wife, Shannon, a teacher, was killed in the attack, said he realized seven years ago that Johnson would go free and has been "dreading this day for a long time." He added that he and his son, Zane, are "as ready as we can be." Wright has since remarried.


"I guess I really didn't understand how it would feel until now, until that day came," he said. "I've felt a lot of emotion in the last two weeks. To know that Mitchell Johnson will walk scot-free, and that he killed my wife and four young girls with full intent and malice, is just unbelievable to me."

Shannon Wright was 32 when she died after surgery for bullet wounds to her chest and abdomen.


'He Can Buy a Gun'

Wright also expressed outrage at the freedoms Johnson will soon experience.

"When he walks out tomorrow, there will be no record," he said. "He can vote. He can buy a gun. He can join the military."

When Johnson was 13, he and his friend, Andrew Golden, then 11, stole rifles from Golden's grandfather on March 24, 1998. The boys, dressed in camouflage, hid in the woods behind the school until lunchtime, when Golden ran inside to pull the fire alarm. They opened fire as classmates and teachers filed out of the buildings, killing four students and one teacher.

The state had no way to hold Johnson past his 18th birthday because of a since-closed loophole in Arkansas' juvenile justice system. Federal prosecutors have used weapons laws to keep Johnson and Andrew Golden locked up until age 21. Golden is scheduled to be released in 2007.


Johnson's release is tough on Wright's son, Zane, who was only 2 when his mother died.



"My favorite memory was my dad was moving the lawn and me and my mom were in the pool together throwing the beach ball back and forth," he said.


Johnson as a Minister?


Now Zane, 10 years old, and a fifth-grader in the Jonesboro school district, said he is upset that his mother's killer plans to become a preacher.



"I don't think it's really fair for him to get out and become a minister and teach people about what he's done because that's pretty much making money off what he did," he said.



Mitchell expressed skepticism about Johnson becoming a minister.



"Only God knows his heart," he said. "Time will tell."



Tamara Steckler, attorney-in-charge of the Juvenile Rights Division at the Legal Aid Society, the nation's oldest and largest provider of legal services to the indigent, pointed out that Johnson has the chance to become a "productive citizen."



"I think the most important thing is that we don't throw away his future as well," she said. "He has an opportunity to lead a better life, to be a productive citizen, and it's important that we help him to do that."




Victim's Husband Still Wants to Know Why


Wright said that Johnson has never tried to contact him. But he said he still wants to know why he went on the shooting rampage that killed his wife.



"I would talk to him under the condition that someone else is there," he said. "Not that I'm scared of him."



"At his hearing," he added, "I said, 'Someday, I hope you can tell me why you did this.'"



He said Johnson responded that he didn't know.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1024950&page=1