Local news reports further to our earlier report on the arrest.
A judge Thursday found 20-year-old Cody Delacruz guilty of a felony charge of Involuntary Manslaughter during what's termed a stipulated bench trial in Knox County Circuit Court. A stipulated bench trial essentially means that both sides agree that evidence presented by the state would be the same as presented at a trial, then a judge renders a verdict.
Delacruz was arrested March 14th, when police were called to a home in the four-hundred block of Olive Street. Prosecutors say Delacruz had been drinking and previously smoked marijuana when he showed a rifle he owns to friends. The gun was loaded and it went off, hitting 18-year-old Isaiah Stevenson in the chest. Stevenson, died at a hospital a short time later.I don't think education is that answer to this problem. That's what some of our pro-gun friends say. My opinion is that guys like young Cody are too stupid and reckless to respond to the education about firearms safety that they've already received.
Most of these guys come from homes in which their fathers and uncles and older brothers used guns. They've been instructed all their lives about the basic common sense ways to avoid accidents, yet, here they are in the news day in and day out.
The answer is a strict one-strike-you're-out policy. Dangerous guys like this have to be disarmed early on, in as many cases as possible, BEFORE they kill someone.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
