When there are things so bad about a crime that they deserve a harsher punishment than normal, judges call them “aggravating circumstances.” Boston’s English High School dean Shaun Harrison learned that legal lesson on Friday but, amazingly, was still only sentenced to 26 years in prison for trying to murder one of his students in cold blood.

Luis Rodriguez was behind in his ‘performance’ so Harrison showed no mercy. When he shot Rodriguez execution style on March 3, 2015, he meant to murder him. Apparently, the 17-year-old wasn’t selling enough pot. “He believed the student was not generating enough sales and withholding money.”

According to prosecutors, Rodriguez became “useless” to Harrison because he wasn’t moving enough weed, Harrison decided to end their business relationship. “The defendant clearly led a double life.”

“When he was no longer useful to him, he was prepared to execute him in cold blood. But for a miracle, but for tremendous medical intervention, Luis would be deceased today.” District Attorney Dan Conley continued.

Smoking the profit is a deadly sin to Dean Harrison, nicknamed the “Rev.” by his students. “Not only was he not a man of God or a role model for young people, he manipulated them in a way that was terribly offensive.”

While the sentence handed down amounts to a life term for the 58-year-old, the public is shocked the judge didn’t spell that out. Massachusetts does not believe in the death penalty and only has the option in federal cases.

“You professed to be a man of religion, you promote yourself as one who can mentor troubled youth … and yet you violated their safety by bringing drugs and violence to them,” Judge Christopher Muse ruled.

On the fateful day, Harrison promised to bring drugs “and take Rodriguez to a place where the two could meet women.” Harrison was supposed to restock Rodriguez at a local gas station.

When he showed up for the meet, instead of passing over a fresh sack of buds, “Harrison shot the student in the back of the head and fled on foot,” prosecutors relate.

When Harrison pulled the .380’s trigger as the pair walked along a snowy road, the bullet entered “just under the right ear.”

Narrowly missing the man’s carotid artery, the slug “broke his jawbone and caused nerve damage and hearing loss.” Harrison left him for dead.

Surveillance video from the gas station shows “the two blurry figures walking in the snowy city street. Then one suddenly turns and runs away.”

Occupants of a passing car dialed for help and saved the victim’s life.

Terrified to give up the name of his up-line dealer, who had already tried to murder him once, Rodriguez “told hospital staff he was shot by one of his marijuana customers during a botched drug deal.” When they pushed him harder he mumbled, “the Rev. shot me.”

When defense lawyers for the disgraced dean tried to pick that inconsistency apart on the stand, Rodriguez asserted, “it took me a while to get all my thoughts back together after being shot in the head, sir. I was in such denial. I knew who did it. Of course I knew who did it.”

Police served a search warrant on Harrison’s home and discovered a safe with “29.5 grams of cocaine, four plastic marijuana bags, one Ruger .380, one Smith & Wesson revolver, ammo and one spent .38 shell casing.”

“Shaun Harrison was really a fraud, he was living a lie, and it was clearly exposed in this case.” Harrison had a big reputation as an anti-violence advocate, Conley explained.

Judge Muse went even further. Harrison acted like an “assassin,” he said, calling it “a miracle” Rodriguez’s name isn’t being added to their nearby memorial to homicide victims.

“He did everything to engrave Luis’ name on one of those stones except get a death certificate,” Muse declared.

For five years prior to working at English High, he had done “stints at other city public schools over about five years.” For decades prior to that, “he had been a community organizer and youth minister.”

Police called him “a familiar face who often worked with law enforcement and helped gang members turn their lives around.” One officer who knew Harrison is shocked. “He was an advocate for anti-violence. Why would he be on our radar screen?”

Harrison had only been dean at the Boston, Massachusetts school two months. When he arrived he got right to work and introduced Rodriguez to his extra-credit weed distribution deal.

School officials had decided, the same day he shot Rodriguez, they were going to fire Harrison for “shoving a female student during a dispute, but he was charged with attempted murder the next day instead.”

The teen trusted his school’s administrator. “He was my counselor. I went to him for everything,” Rodriguez testified. The young man testified they talked about “his personal struggles.” His mother was in jail so he stayed with his grandmother.

The jury deliberated for nearly three days before convicting Harrison on “a slew of charges.” The biggest ones were armed assault with intent to murder, aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon, unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.

“May God forgive you, sir, because we will not,” the victim’s mom, Diana Rodriguez, sobbed at the sentencing hearing.

(conservativedailypost.com)

A family demanded millions of dollars in damages after their son was fatally shot by a police officer, but the jury came back with an “insulting” award.

As reported by BBC, the family of a 30-year-old man filed a wrongful death lawsuit and was seeking millions in damages. But they got a rude awakening when the jury only awarded them four dollars.

Gregory Vaughn Hill was fatally shot through his garage in January 2014 when sheriff’s deputies in St. Lucie, Florida responded to a noise complaint.

Officers knocked on the front door, but no one answered. When they heard loud music blaring from the garage, they began banging on the door.

Hill open the garage door, saw the police officers, and then slammed it in their faces. One of the officers shot four times as the door closed, hitting Hill once in the head and three times in his body.

Police reported that they opened fire because they noticed a gun on a nearby table, which they said Hill was running toward when as he was closing the garage door.

The jury ruled that the officer did not use excessive force in the case and that Hill was responsible for his own death given he was intoxicated and had a weapon near him during the incident.

The judge instructed the jury to determine if Hill’s constitutional rights had been violated and, if so, whether his family should be awarded compensation for their pain and suffering.

In a stunning move, the jury awarded $1 to his mother for funeral costs and $1 to each of his three children — $4 total. However, the jury found that Hill was 99 percent responsible for his own death, which means the sheriff’s department is only required by law to pay 1 percent of the damages.

The family will get four cents.

Hill’s fiancée, Monique Davis, said she was heartbroken over the ruling and that she didn’t understand why the jury awarded the family four dollars.

It’s unclear why the jury issued the savage ruling that they did. There are a number of theories surrounding the ruling and what it could mean. One could argue that the jury was trying to prevent another lawsuit and discourage frivolous, money-grubbers who may exploit any action to stick it to the taxpayer and police.

The jury is sending a clear message that police cannot be sued by leftists looking to exploit a tragedy for money.

Larson also has a criminal record. In 2009, he pleaded guilty to threatening to kill the U.S. president, for which he served 16 months in federal prison and three years of supervision upon his release. In a previous interview with The Post, he called a letter he sent to the Secret Service in 2008 warning of imminent plans to assassinate either President George W. Bush or President Barack Obama, an act of civil disobedience meant to call attention to the tyranny of the U.S. government. He also has a couple of misdemeanor convictions: One for the “use of computer for harassment,” which Larson says was related to a lewd email he sent a woman while he was in college, and two others that pertain to marijuana possession.

[He threatened to kill the president. Now he is seeking public office.]

Some conservatives have used Larson’s candidacy to attack Virginia’s voting laws, after Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) restored voting and other civil rights to thousands of convicted felons across the state, including Larson.

Larson filed the initial paperwork with the Virginia Board of Elections to certify his latest candidacy in May. He said that he has also submitted the 1,000 signatures of potential voters required to run for Congress in Virginia. He said the goal of his candidacy was to try to “build a movement” and wasn’t too worried about whether his message would resonate with voters.

“Build the morale among the incels help get them focused and get some traction,” he said.

According to Larson, he never interacts in person with people from the forums that he built online.

He said he voted for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson in the 2016 presidential election, though he supports some of the cultural changes that President Trump has wrought.

Antonio Olivo contributed reporting.

(The Washington Post)