A Kentucky man who murdered three students and injured five in a school shooting in 1997 has the potential of parole this week.
Michael Carneal was a 14-year-old freshman when he fired a stolen pistol at a prayer group in the lobby of Heath High School, near Paducah, Kentucky. He received the maximum sentence allowed at the time for someone his age, a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
The hearing, which began Monday, is Carneal's first opportunity for parole. The parole board can either release him, defer the decision, or send him back to prison for the rest of his life with no further opportunity for release. Monday was dedicated to testimony from the injured and close relatives of those who were killed.
Gwen Hadley, mother of Nicole Hadley, a 14-year-old murdered in the shooting, said at the hearing that ''we — the families, the survivors, and people that were at the school, and the whole community — were given a life sentence by the shooter and didn't have the opportunity to get a second chance, a reduced sentence.
''The life sentence the shooter has given us — I have made the choice not to be angry and to find joy in life. But I still really miss my daughter. And I don't like that I don't get to see her.''
Christina Hadley Ellegood, Nicole's older sister, was in the school during the shooting and found Nicole with a bullet hole in her head. She does not believe Carneal shot randomly, since Nicole was the first person killed and had recently turned Carneal down for a date.
''Michael was not a kid who did not have friends, as he's led people to believe. Nicole did not agree with how Michael treated people and the things that he did, but because she was so kindhearted, she was friends with him,'' Ellegood said.
While acknowledging that a 14-year-old doesn't have a fully developed brain and possibly doesn't understand the consequences of his actions, Ellegood believes that he knew what he was doing, saying that ''he fired eight shots and hit eight different people, which in my eyes is a very difficult task.''
Hollan Holm, a student wounded in the shooting, remembered lying on the floor bleeding from his head and believing he was going to die, saying that ''almost 25 years later, I still have trouble being in crowds of people. I get agitated and scan for sources of danger and exit routes. I get anxious when I am seated in a restaurant with my back to the door.''
But Holm also remembers the shooter as a kid he rode the bus daily with and ate lunch with, and realizes that they were all immature at that age, saying that he thinks that, after 25 years, Carneal is probably a different person today, and that he would support supervised release if mental health experts believe that Carneal can be successful outside of prison.
Missy Jenkins Smith, who was paralyzed by a bullet in the shooting and uses a wheelchair, believes it is too risky to let Carneal out of prison and worries what would happen if he stopped taking his medications, saying that Carneal suffered from paranoia and delusions at the time of the shooting.
Jenkins Smith was in the band with Carneal and had considered him a friend, and even visited him in prison once. She has said she has forgiven Carneal but does not believe it would be fair to set him free.
I could speak for hours about what my life has been like every minute of every day the last quarter century, without the use of my legs. I've been sentenced to life without the possibility of parole — after living the consequence of Michael Carneal's decision — to not be able to walk. I will continue to serve out that consequence. Michael's decision for me will be my entire life,'' Jenkins Smith said.
Carneal will make his case Tuesday for release from the Kentucky State Reformatory in La Grange. A two-person panel of the full parole board is hearing the appeal, and they have the option to either release him from prison or defer his next opportunity for parole for up to five years.
If the two cannot agree on those options, they can send the case to a meeting of the full board next Monday. Only the full board can deny any chance of parole, which would force Carneal back to prison for the rest of his life.
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