WASHINGTON — Like many middle-class, suburban American parents, Shannan and Joey Troiano worried about their son’s behaviour and his bad grades at high school. And like many wayward teenagers, Cory Ryder was grounded for weeks at a time, had a PlayStation confiscated and was banned from watching TV.
Less typically, this 16-year-old was plotting to murder his parents by hiring a hitman, while his mother was organising a sting operation involving a police officer posing as a contract killer.
Now, in all fairness — “grounded for weeks at a time”? This suggests to me that there is something seriously wrong in that house. Either that or “time-outs” were used in place of corporal punishment when the kid was little. I remember a few whacks on the butt from the old man focusing my mind remarkably on the idea that perhaps my behavior was less than optimal. Sitting me in a corner would have served only to piss me off. (Grounding me would have been a reward, not a punishment…and we didn’t watch that much TV.)
Moving on a bit…
[Cory] walked out of lessons at Spring Ridge Middle School in Lexington Park, smashed a fire extinguisher case and then broke into the county fairgrounds, where he vandalised property. A judge sentenced him to supervised probation and his parents attended no less than 36 meetings with the authorities about him.
Kid should have been incarcerated for a few weeks instead of put on “supervised probation”. How do you make it clear that society is serious if time isn’t served?
But Cory dropped out of school and then, after stealing $45 (£22) from his sister’s piggy bank, had a fight with his mother, which led to him being kicked out of home. He has since told officials that he was upset about being thrown out of the house and that he felt pressured to talk to the man in the hotel.
“Pressured”? I don’t see how that follows. Pressured to find someplace to spend the night, I suppose, but the bit about talking to the supposed hitman strikes me as something concocted in his very own fucked up mind without any need for “pressure”.
Cory insists that he never intended to have his parents killed and that he wanted to call the police that night in the hotel room. A judge has ruled that he should be tried in the juvenile system, which means that he cannot be held beyond his 21st birthday.
That judge should be impeached. This is an adult crime and should be tried in adult court.
He has also been writing to his mother, saying: “You know I love you with all my heart mom!” Mrs Troiano fears that he is being manipulative.
Gee. Do ya THINK?
This kid needs to be put away at least till he’s 21 in a place where they’ll proactively fix what’s wrong with him.