The sentencing hearing for murderer Eric Hainstock was an emotional ordeal for the family of his victim John Klang.
It was also difficult on Hainstock's father.
Even Hainstock's attorney broke down in tears.
Eric Hainstock was the only one that seemed unfazed by it all.
BARABOO -- An emotional sentencing hearing, just a day after Eric Hainstock was found guilty of killing his school principal, ended the prosecution Friday of the notorious school shooting case.
[Sauk County Circuit Judge Patrick] Taggart's decision came after a hearing in which Klang's wife, Sue Klang, and their daughters, Kristi and Kerri, spoke tearfully about the man who was killed by Hainstock's gunfire.
Sue Klang, wearing a T-shirt reading "John Klang is my superhero," said Hainstock took away her high school sweetheart, her best friend and the father of their three children. He has missed family events and milestones such as the graduation of their daughters from college, as well as watching their son play baseball, a sport Klang loved and one she and her husband enjoyed together.
Sue Klang said she left her job as a hospital health education director because she could no longer concentrate on it. And she has had to deal with constant reminders of the tragedy at Weston.
"It's difficult to deal with supporters of Eric who write messages to me telling me that I'm a liar and a poor excuse for a Christian for favoring adult court for Eric," she said, "that I have not suffered an impossible loss and that I should stop spewing my venom and feeling sorry for myself."
Hainstock's fate, she said, "will be a small pittance for the pain that I and those around me have suffered and are still suffering. Everyone who was the victim of John's murder has suffered great anguish and has had problems in even trying to fathom the depth of John's loss."
It's horrible that Sue Klang is being harassed by the freakish supporters of Eric Hainstock.
Those people are truly sick. They aren't the compassionate activists they claim to be. They are demented torturers in their own right.
Rhoda Ricciardi, Hainstock's attorney, tried to get parole for Hainstock after only twenty years, the minimum under state law.
"Nobody knows what Eric is going to be like in 20 years," she said.
No kidding. So what?
Nobody knows what anyone will be like in 20 years. That's no argument for him to be eligible for parole.
Hainstock's sentence is about punishing him for the murder he committed within the last year. He killed John Klang and he has to pay for it now and twenty years from now and after that.
Remember, nobody will ever know what Klang would have been like in 20 years.
The punishment that criminals receive is a reflection of the values of a society.
Hainstock is a sociopath. It's not OK to bring guns to school and kill someone.
His sentence should reinforce that.
...Sue Klang said she has seen no remorse from Hainstock, who ate a sandwich two hours after shooting her husband with his blood still on his hands.
"It's difficult to understand how anyone could be that callous," she said.
But Hainstock's father, Shawn Hainstock said tearfully after the hearing that his son feels remorse and has told him so many times.
"He's broke down crying when I'm talking with him," Shawn Hainstock said. "He's not heartless. People don't know him like we do, maybe. He's a loving boy. Everybody tries to paint a picture that he's evil and he's not."
He expressed his deepest sympathies to the Klang family, but said "We love our son and we have to stand by him, too."
...Eric Hainstock did not speak at the hearing when given the chance.
"He's hurting deep inside," his father said. "He's told me, 'Dad, I don't know how to cry.' I've told him, 'Eric you've got to cry and let some of this out.'"
That's what's so troubling to me. Hainstock showed no remorse.
I would expect Shawn Hainstock to stand up for his son. He can cry and apologize.
But no one can change the reality of what Eric Hainstock did; and what he did was evil.
This next stuff is really weird.
Hainstock's attorney says that being behind bars has helped him.
...Ricciardi said Hainstock's life has, ironically, improved while in custody.
"The scary thing is that since Eric's been in jail, this is the best this boy's ever done in his life," she said. He has learned multiplication tables and improved his reading from a fourth-grade level to handle adult material. She said it has shown how Hainstock, away from his home life and frustration and teasing at school, has thrived with positive reinforcement from his teacher at the jail.
But emotionally, Hainstock is still immature, Ricciardi said, and might not show remorse because his brain is not able to process what he did. When he reaches that point, she said, "the flood gates are going to open. He will live a nightmare."
I don't think Ricciardi should find it scary that Hainstock is finally getting his act together. It sounds like he was scared straight.
Maybe he improved academically because his incarceration meant that he's no longer bullying people or planning to hurt others. Whatever, she makes the case that Hainstock being in custody is a good thing. Since that's the case, let's keep him there.
Her explanation for his lack of remorse is lame. We're supposed to believe that Hainstock is too immature emotionally to really comprehend what he did, but when he does mature, he'll "live a nightmare."
During his testimony, Hainstock said he knew he had done a terrible thing. That was his excuse for telling investigators that he PURPOSELY pulled the trigger three times. His brain was able to "process" enough to understand that shooting someone is wrong and would have consequences. It's not that he didn't get that.
At the hearing, as Klang's wife and daughters expressed the pain of their loss, it's very difficult to have sympathy for the nightmare that Hainstock will live once those "floodgates open" in his head.
And finally we come to Judge Taggart's reasoning behind his sentence for Hainstock.
...Hainstock can ask for release from prison on extended supervision after 30 years, Sauk County Circuit Judge Patrick Taggart said Friday.
Taggart left open the possibility that Hainstock could spend the early years of his sentence at a juvenile correctional facility, where he could receive more intensive treatment and education than he would get in an adult prison.
"I do believe you can be rehabilitated in the correctional system," Taggart told Hainstock. "I do believe it's appropriate to start you at (Ethan Allen School in) Wales or Lincoln Hills."
So Taggart thinks that there's hope for murderer Hainstock.
He thinks that the correctional system can transform the killer, rehabilitate him. Some time in a juvenile facility will give Hainstock the treatment and education he needs; the stuff that John Klang and the faculty at Weston didn't give him.
That's a slap that Klang and the staff at the high school didn't deserve.
Taggart believes his role is to teach Hainstock to learn how to function in society without killing people. The judge prefers to take this opportunity to focus on how to benefit Hainstock rather than mete out justice and punish him for his crimes.
Taggart is approaching this from the standpoint of what's best for Eric.
What about what's best for the Klangs and society?
It appears that the judge wasn't too happy with the jury's decision. It seems he felt that the lesser charges of first- or second-degree reckless homicide would have been more appropriate.
I disagree. The jury didn't get it wrong.
Taggart did.
13 comments:
Even the same judge who earlier in Eric Hainstock's life sentenced him to go back and live with his cold sadistic father can see that things don't match up. The judge has seen a lot of criminals and this kid wasn't like them. So while sentencing him he extended a morsel of mercy. And that little bit of mercy bothers you?
The assigned lawyers, male and female, cried at the verdict. How often does that happen? Yet you're irritated that the kid didn't cry. Think about that and why it might be the case. When you have been a physical and emotional punching bag most of your life you learn to expect more hits and to take it quietly.
If his father, and not his principal, had been shot in that struggle do you think the 15 yr old would have gotten the same sentence? Probably not.
Your argument strips Eric Hainstock of his humanity.
You depict him as an empty shell, without a conscience, incapable of an ounce of compassion, and completely lacking in basic common sense.
Is that what he is to you?
Inhuman?
Anyone who has worked with kids with severe learning and emotional disabilities has to have a broken heart after seeing this story unfold. It is tragic for the family who lost a loved one, but even more tragic is how our school systems at large do not understand and are unwilling to recognize the need to help young people whose lives could be turned around before it is too late. Bullying is allowed to happen if it doesn't disrupt a teacher or administrator's day. Kids who need help are allowed to be victimized by a school system that is driven by pressure to drive test scores higher instead of self esteem. Administrators and school systems hold statistics as their priority rather than the children that parents entrust them with for so much of their lives.
Eric killed his prinical but the school killed Eric first. How sad that it all could have been prevented. Parents, teachers, and administrators, please pay attention to the children around you now that are crying out for attention, help and affection. Tragedies like this can be prevented if we look beyond the anger and hear the cries for help.
Klang Klang Klang, there goes that bell again. I am totally sick of you always running down Eric Hainstock as a worthless and totally unsympathetic idiot. You just cannot stand someone standing up for one bit of decency in this young man. And no, judge Taggart got it right. There should have indeed been a not guilty verdict from the jurors. Yes, for the last time, the Klangs have suffered a loss, not the rest of their lives. And Sue Klang, wearing that ridiculous shirt of hers showed no mercy or feelings for the Hainstock family either so why should we feel anything for her except anger.
It looks like to me that this child had taken it too many times and after being abused and bullied, he finally cried out for help, FOR THE 31ST time. Reports say that he went to help more than 20-30 times and this principal and the rest of them turned away. Then he goes home to more abuse. What did they expect out of this kid? He is a CHILD still, you know. 16. HELLO. I think it is sick to try him as an adult. I was treated the same way in "school" and now that my own son has ADHD, I homeschool him. The schools are not responsible for self-esteem, the HOME is. And that means parents that love you. This child should have been helped LONG ago and the faculty should have sent him to social services long ago, for the looks of it. Maybe this tragedy would have never happened. Ooh, did I mention that I went to a NICE CHRISTIAN grade school in rural Wisconsin? I have black friends that said they were never treated as poorly as I was in school. Luckily for me, I had awesome parents that stuck up for me. Too bad for this one. People nowadays can't see past there own picket fences. Just string him up! Someone has to PAY, right!? Now all he'll EVER know in life is pain, pain and more pain, that is what life's about. Isn't it?
"Eric killed his prinical but the school killed Eric first."
Are you nuts?
"Yes, for the last time, the Klangs have suffered a loss, not the rest of their lives."
WHAT???
You seem to have serious issues when it comes to comprehending reality.
"It looks like to me that this child had taken it too many times and after being abused and bullied, he finally cried out for help, FOR THE 31ST time."
Committing murder is not a cry for help.
It's a crime. It's a sin.
Mary said:
You depict him as an empty shell, without a conscience, incapable of an ounce of compassion, and completely lacking in basic common sense. Is that what he is to you? Inhuman?
I reply:
He was lacking in common sense. Teens haven’t developed the reasoning ability of adults and Hainstock was immature even for a 15 yr old. Children aren't born with common sense they must be taught.
A liberal would say that people are basically good and they only do bad things because of their environment. In fact human nature is selfish and unless restrained we all do bad things.
It is encouraging that over the past year he has so improved his math and reading skills. Yes, he got medical treatment, a safer predictable environment and a tutor. But he could have been lazy or uncooperative. He wasn’t. He put in the effort.
So what about that ounce of compassion? He might be considered for parole at 60 or older. Given the facts of this case it should have been sooner.
Granted Point: Mrs Klang has a complete right to feel any way she’d like and should not be pressured.
Are you saying that Hainstock didn't know the difference between right and wrong when he shot Klang because he wasn't taught?
Have you listened to Hainstock's testimony?
His own statements make very clear that he most definitely knew what he did was wrong.
It's sad that Hainstock chose to throw his life away when he chose to kill Klang.
Wisconsin teenagers Brendan Dassey and Eric Hainstock are both sitting in the same adult institution under the same sentence. On the morning of their crimes neither of them woke up planning to hurt anyone. Dassey happened upon his unspeakably evil uncle torturing a stranger so he joined in hours of rape, torture, murder, mutilation and for weeks later an attempt to hide their crime. Dassey eventually confessed but refused to testify against his uncle. Hainstock took two loaded guns to school to create a dramatic scene to get attention. Within a few minutes time he arrived at school, either ignoring or ordering to the office people he encountered before being jumped by a couple male staff. A struggle ensued during which Hainstock fired. The principal died hours later while Hainstock was telling police it was his fault. Minutes of reckless stupidity. Hours of cruelty. Why are they serving the same sentence?
(And why are culpable members of their frightening families walking the streets?)
The author of this article is right, what's best for Eric is irrelevant. What's important is to make sure nobody else loses their spouse or loved ones to another hainstock. Protect society by eliminating the threats. Eric is a threat.
Personally, I believe hainstock needs to spend the rest of his life behind bars, until he is of age where no longer capable of holding a gun. To channel the inner Hitler, I also advocate his castration so that he can't spread his inferior genetic makeup and inflict futher harm on society.
Of course in reality what will happen is that he'll be free in a few years through some legal loopholes and richer than Bill Gates through some ridiculous lawsuits against the school and the family of the person he killed. Because there's ain't no justice any more in this world.
If there were justice, then that janitor would have taken the 20 gauge shotgun and blown a hole the size of a dinner plate through hainstock's chest before Klang was shot, and then gotten a raise after being hailed a hero.
But hey, it doesn't matter right? Quick, someone turn on American Idol and order me a Whopper with cheese... I'm in dire jeopardy of having a thought.
I was with you through your first paragraph.
Then you lost me.
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