 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Teen gets 15 years in killing of 76-year-oldBy CHASE SQUIRES
© St. Petersburg Times, DADE CITY -- Circuit Judge Maynard Swanson on Friday berated 19-year-old Lionell Kendall Mitchell for a "brutal, totally unnecessary killing" and sentenced him to the maximum 15 years allowed by law. Mitchell had dodged a possible life sentence when a jury convicted him in September of manslaughter and assault instead of the first-degree murder and carjacking charges he was facing. As she left the courtroom Friday, his mother said the 15-year term was not as bad as it could have been, and she hoped her son would learn from the lesson. Mitchell was arrested at age 16 and accused of taking part in the Aug. 9, 1999, abduction and killing of Daniel Max Boyko, a 76-year-old Trilby man. Boyko had been pushed into the back seat of his own car, driven into the woods, beaten, stomped and choked to death. Two other teens -- Jesse Ray Allen, then 16, and Damani Emmanuel, then 18 -- were also charged and are awaiting trail. Mitchell is now listed as a prosecution witness against both. Mitchell declined to speak when the judge asked if he had anything to say. His attorney, A.J. Ivie, argued that Mitchell was very young when the crime happened. At his trial, Mitchell testified. He admitted he was present for the attack but denied taking part. "Sixteen-year-olds can kill as easily as 30-year-olds," Swanson said. "This was a particularly brutal, totally unnecessary killing." Turning to Mitchell, the judge added, "So far as I'm concerned, the only way society is going to be safe is to put you away. You can't live with other people." At first, the judge went along with the state's recommendation of 20 years in prison. Ivie argued that's above the maximum sentence allowed for manslaughter, and the judge relented, coming down to a 15-year term. "I'm not going to squabble over it," Swanson said. Ivie noted that Mitchell will get credit for the more than 800 days he spent in jail awaiting trial and sentencing. Mitchell's mother, Margaret, was calm as she left the courtroom. "Fifteen is okay. Maybe he'll learn," she said. "He wishes he hadn't been there that night." Wife shot in chest listed in fair condition nowVicky Dinsmore, who was shot in the chest this week, has been upgraded to fair condition, a spokesperson at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg said Friday night. That means Dinsmore's vital signs are stable and within normal limits and she is conscious, although she may be uncomfortable. She had been in critical condition since Monday night, when her family said her husband was drunk and twirling a handgun during an argument and accidentally shot her in the chest at their apartment in Port Richey. Her husband, Patrick Michael Dinsmore, remained in the county jail in Land O'Lakes on Friday night. He was held in lieu of $25,000 bail and faces charges of shooting into an occupied dwelling and aggravated assault. 3 injured when minivan plows into school busNEW PORT RICHEY -- A minivan slammed into the back of a school bus carrying disabled students on Friday morning, sending two Mitchell High School teenagers and an aide to the hospital. "The van coming behind the bus (didn't) see it and at the last second (hit) the brakes," said Trooper Jeff Kidder of the Florida Highway Patrol. The bus was stopped about 8:30 a.m. in a line of traffic, facing east on Mitchell Boulevard and waiting to turn left on Little Road, Kidder said. Patricia Werner, 16, a Mitchell High School student, was driving the van, Kidder said. She was flown to Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, where she was treated and released, a hospital spokesperson said. Rita Kyle, 60, of Port Richey was driving the school bus, which also had three students and an aide, Kidder said. Summer Stephen, 16, of Holiday and aide Adrianna Gonzalez, 58, of New Port Richey were taken to Community Hospital in New Port Richey with very minor injuries, troopers said. The crash still was under investigation Friday night, troopers said. Man held on charges of molesting childrenNEW PORT RICHEY -- A man wanted on child molestation charges in Washington state was arrested Thursday afternoon at his Mango Street home, Pasco County sheriff's deputies said. According to Spokane County records, Randy Wayne Lake, 21, was wanted on charges that he molested two 8-year-olds and two 4-year-olds earlier this year. Lake was being held without bail Friday night in the county jail in Land O'Lakes.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From today's Pasco Times |
