“Once we analyze all the facts, we will charge any person or persons that we believe we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt committed a crime,” he said.
“You have to be able to show that they understand the seriousness of it, planned it, and executed it,” Julie McConnell, a law professor at the University of Richmond, told the AP. “It would be very hard to prove that a 6-year-old could understand that what he did could have permanent consequences,” McConnell said.Article content
Drew described a complicated investigation that involved coordinating interviews with first-graders, which required permission from their parents as well as the expertise of a child psychologist. The decision to not charge the child is the latest development from the shooting, which sent shockwaves through the shipbuilding city of about 185,000 people near the Chesapeake Bay.
Zwerner, 25, hustled her students out of the classroom before being rushed to the hospital, where she stayed for nearly two weeks before she was released to continue recovering at home.Article content The family said in the days after the shooting that the child was placed under hospital care and was receiving “the treatment he needs.”