Sheriff's Deputies say an Upstate teen posted a "death list" on his MySpace page. We’re told it was basically a list of kids whom the teen said he would like to see dead. Even though he admitted to doing it, no charges will be filed against him.
On Monday, Laurens High School Principal Wayne McIntosh says the school became aware of the 15-year-old's posting. An incident report was filed with the Laurens County Sheriff's Office, but it was determined that no criminal charges could be filed. News Channel asked the school district and the solicitor's office why. "The child told us some of these kids he hadn't talked to over a year, that they were children he knew from three or four years ago... nothing suspicious in his behavior at school or at home after talking with his mom and dad, and those are the things that are taken into consideration," says McIntosh. Eighth Judicial Circuit Solicitor Jerry Peace says even if the teen had posted a plan with a date and specific weapon, his hands are tied. According to Peace, "Every time something like this comes up, they call us and ask us about it. I mean, this is a dangerous situation. You don't know what's going to happen, and you would think that there is something that criminally we could do to address the problem, but at the present time there is not."
The student was suspended, and according to the incident report he and his MySpace page will be monitored for the remainder of the school year.
News Channel 7 also spoke with Murray Glenn at Seventh Circuit Solicitor’s Office. He agrees with Peace, saying, “It’s a modern day issue that needs to be addressed for a code of laws that were written a long time ago." Glenn says when it comes to a social networking site, it’s very difficult to prove the source of a posting on the internet, so these cases are hard to prosecute. However, a text message is transmitted and much easier to track the source and recipient, so it makes it much easier to prosecute a case involving a message sent my text, phone or email. If the student had directed the message toward a school official, that would have been covered by law. However, if a gun had been found at the teen’s home, Glenn said he would likely be charged with a weapons violation, but not for the Internet threat.
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