Jake Long and his fiancee Rose Hunter were snuggling together. The last fortnight had been a highly stressful one. Particularly for Rose, who'd just had jury duty. She'd been selected to be a juror for a case involving an adolescent charged with attempted murder.
The prosecution stated the juvenile had wanted to take the thrill of an adult-rated video game to real life. The game in question involved stealing vehicles for a cyber gang and then using the automobile and additional artillery to obliterate an opposing gang.
The defendant had been bullied relentlessly at school. The evidence provided showed a lack of a stable home environment—furthermore, no consequences for those who'd been bullying the young man.
So the prosecution had theorized the game had influenced the teen. Thus stealing his negligent parents' vehicle and firearm before driving around looking for the ones who bullied him. First running over one and then shooting another. Both of the bullies had been severely injured. However, the physicians stated they'd live. Yet have a long road to recovery.
Either way? It seemed like an open and shut case. However, the defense had argued that the child's mental trauma should be considered. The child had suffered from years of severe neglect and various forms of abuse, thus resulting in PSTD, rendering him unable to differentiate reality from fiction.
The defense didn't deny the violence their client had committed. Instead, they're opting he should be sentenced to a psychiatric institution rather then a correctional institution.
It had been up to Rose and the jury to decide whether the child was competent enough or not to understand the severity of his actions. Then he decided if he should go correctional institution or a psychiatric medical institution.
By the end of the trial, the jury unanimously agreed that they should send him for psychiatric treatment. They strongly felt that going to prison would only further deteriorate the teen's psychic.
This leaves no room for any recovery. So they sent him to a psychiatric facility upstate. Then, hopefully, he'd be released on probation and have a better life with time and treatment.
However, everyone comprehended it to be well over a decade before the individual would even be eligible for probation. Even if he was released in the future? He'd have to continue with mental therapy treatments. Moreover, be placed in a group home with people trained to help those in prison or mental hospitals.
Jake himself felt Rose, and the rest of the jury had done the right thing. Even if it took twenty-five years before the boy even had a shot of being released? He agreed with Rose that the boy needed mental help not being stuck in a cell.
Either way, the couple snuggled closer and prayed the individual would get the help he required and be able to live a better life in twenty-five years or so. One can only hope.