Not guilty plea in clerk killings (follow up teen executed 2 cashiers)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20101216/NEWS97/101219750#not-guilty-plea-in-clerk-killings

Photo here: http://www.omaha.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=OW&Date=20101216&Category=NEWS97&ArtNo=101219750&Ref=AR&maxw=490&maxh=275

Published Thursday December 16, 2010 AP

ALGONA, Iowa — A Minnesota teenager charged with killing two convenience store clerks in northern Iowa has pleaded not guilty to charges in one of the two counties where he’s accused of committing the crimes.

Online court records show 17-year-old Michael Swanson of St. Louis Park, Minn., entered a written plea of not guilty Thursday to charges of first-degree murder and first-degree robbery in Kossuth County. He faces the same charges in Humboldt County.

Swanson’s attorney, Charles Kenville, declined to comment on why Swanson pleaded not guilty on Thursday. His arraignment had been set for Monday.

Kenville said that Swanson also will plead not guilty to the charges in Kossuth County, where his arraignment is set for Dec. 28.

[Brickbat]

1. This story is so sad, all the way around. I feel so sad for everyone involved.

[sharesunited]

2. He shot them with a handgun. For the record.

[Statistical]

3. Lucky for him he doesn't live in Texas.

[Omaha Steve]

4. By Hart Van Denburg, Wed., Nov. 17 2010 @ 5:46AM

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2010/11/michael_swanson.php

According to police, he walked into a gas station in Algona, Iowa, just after 9 p.m. on Monday. He demanded money and cigarettes from 47-year-old clerk Vicky Bowman-Hall, a mother of 10. She handed both over, and then he shot and killed her anyway.

Thirty miles down Hwy. 169 in Humbolt he allegedly shot and killed 61-year-old Sheila Meyers at another gas station. The cops arrested him later that night at a McDonald's in Webster City. A gun and the stolen cigarettes were found in his car.

[sharesunited]

5. Was he a law abiding gun owner? Or does it matter?

The gun came off the assembly line as innocent machined steel.

How it came into his hands is direct fallout from "lawful" gun and ammo proliferation.