Minneapolis police recently arrested a 14-year-old boy wanted for the murder of 32-year-old Chris Stephano Bennett, who was shot in the head in April in the Stevens Square neighborhood of Minneapolis.
The teen, left unnamed by police because of his age, was arrested on Monday and remains jailed in Minneapolis’ Juvenile Detention Center. He was charged by warrant on the 27th of April with a charge of third-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder in connection with Bennett’s murder, the Star Tribune reported.
Bennett was found unconscious after having been shot in the head on April 18th. He was transported to the hospital alive, though he tragically died three days later.
What makes this case particularly disturbing is that, as KARE 11 reported, there is a “juvenile case gap” where teens released for incompetence to stand trial because of issues like low cognitive functioning can face no consequences for their behavior, even if they shot someone.
For example, the outlet reported that in a different case, a teen who shot a man in the head was arrested and released just months earlier for the same crime, shooting a man in the head. He was released because his low cognitive functioning made him incompetent to stand trial. KARE 11, reporting on that, said:
Only eight months earlier, the teen was accused of shooting another victim in the head at a Brooklyn Park gas station.
In that case, the teen, who already faced more than a dozen other crimes, was found mentally incompetent to stand trial due to his mental health and low cognitive functioning.
His shooting case was suspended, and he was then released to his mother, court records show. At the same time, more than a dozen misdemeanor charges were dismissed.
He became a gap case, falling through a loophole in Minnesota law that lets juvenile suspects charged with crimes go free without required mental health treatment or supervision.
KARE, reporting on the highly problematic situation the Minnesota legislature bizarrely left unaddressed, which it calls “juvenile gap cases,” said:
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Since the law requires cases to be suspended – even when they involve violent crimes – judges can’t order juveniles to be held in detention or released under law enforcement supervision.
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Judges’ hands are also tied in these cases because they have no authority to order children to get treatment to restore them to competence.
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Even if they did have that power, there are no competency restoration programs in Minnesota tailored to juveniles.
In one case, a mentally ill teen who was charged with two armed robberies, found incompetent to stand trial for those crimes, and then let go to his grandmother instead of secure treatment.
So, a young person was just arrested for shooting a man in the head, killing him. If the other case is any indication, that 14-year-old could be released for incompetence to stand trial and commit the same crime again.
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