Colt Gray grew up isolated. His parents’ drug use and financial instability led to the family moving numerous times and lapses in his school enrollment. At 12, Gray finally found a place to belong: the online true crime community. However, he also encountered dysfunctional users who glorified mental illness, schizophrenia and even mass shooters.
A couple of years later, Gray began talking about a potential attack online, which led to some of his messages getting reported to police, who showed up to his home but never ensured firearms were out of reach.
Gray’s pain and planning culminated on Sept. 4, 2024, when the then-14-year-old brought an AR-15-style rifle to school and proceeded to open fire, killing four and injuring nine others. Gray then surrendered to school resource officers.
After initially pleading not guilty, Gray agreed to a nonnegotiated guilty plea, leaving Piedmont Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Nicholas Primm to decide his sentence.
Gray’s defense attorney, Charlton Allen, urged the judge to grant him life with parole in light of the Supreme Court’s 2012 decision in Miller v. Alabama. While the court did not ban life without parole for juvenile homicide offenders, it did hold that states cannot require that sentence automatically.
In the end, Primm pointed to the exception for “permanent incorrigibility” established in the high court’s 2016 ruling in Montgomery v. Louisiana in denying Gray a chance at parole.
“A youth may fail to consider the harm his rash acts may inflict before acting. But you did consider. You studied that pain when you researched the trials of your profaned idols. You contemplated that pain over and over. This wasn’t transient immaturity; it was deliberate, contemplated evil,” Primm said.
Despite Miller and other landmark Supreme Court rulings, many so-called juvenile lifers are growing old behind bars. The parole process can be notoriously opaque and political regardless of a defendant’s age. But for juvenile prisoners, advocates say parole foot-dragging has left young offenders to die in prison even when they’re entitled to an opportunity for release. [Megan Butler]
The Courthouse News keeps rolling below.
The Justice Department wants the D.C. Circuit to uphold a federal judge’s finding that the tech giant maintained an illegal monopoly, affirm data-sharing remedies and vacate the denial of a ban on massive payments to distributors like Apple. [Ryan Knappenberger]
Pentagon v. Anthropic: A federal judge is likely to permanently block the Trump administration from labeling AI developer Anthropic as a “supply chain risk,” saying she was troubled by the idea that a company’s criticism of the government makes it untrustworthy. [Margaret Attridge]
Sex abuse insurance: The 10th Circuit sided with the Mormon Church in its bid to seek reimbursement from two insurance companies for costs stemming from defending and settling sexual abuse lawsuits. The panel determined that the policies were ambiguous as to what counts as an “occurrence.” [Edvard Pettersson]
Giuliani’s health: Lawyers for Rudy Giuliani and a former associate who claims her then-boss “demanded” sex from her and subjected her to booze- and Viagra-fueled bouts of harassment sparred over how the former mayor’s health should affect the timing of a potential civil trial. [Erik Uebelacker]
Vanity plate speech: The Fourth Circuit held that vanity license plates are private speech subject to First Amendment protections. The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles had recalled a driver’s license plate that read, “FTP&ATF.” [Joe Dodson]
Witches aren't real, and no one ever should have been accused of being one. So, why did we send 60,000 people to their deaths for a crime they couldn't possibly have committed?
There are no tricks here as we examine the chilling circumstances behind the notorious Salem witch trials and the ensuing paranoia that led to widespread accusations and tragic executions.
Text messages shine light on illicit relationship between D4vd and murdered teen
Candace Owens trades legal blows with Macrons over transgender accusations
DHS strips interview requirement for asylum seekers, expediting deportations
First parent convicted of murder for son's school shooting sentenced to 15 years in prison
Water war: Environmentalists and Native American tribes sued to vacate the Bureau of Land Management’s approval of the use of a decommissioned oil and gas pipeline across protected land in the Mojave Desert for a controversial water project. [Edvard Pettersson]
» Eastern District of Texas: A judge found members of the National Labor Relations Board and its administrative law judges enjoy unconstitutional protections from removal. The court severed those protections in the National Labor Relations Act and Administrative Act but declined to go further.
» Virginia Court of Appeals: A three-judge panel found that a state statute barring firearm possession by persons convicted of forgery does not violate the Second Amendment.
» Northern District of California: A judge approved a nearly $25 million settlement for roughly 600,000 Grubhub delivery drivers in California after a decade of litigation.
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