Post by sadie on Dec 16, 2011 20:54:18 GMT -5
COUPEVILLE, Wash. — The young man who gained international notoriety as the "Barefoot Bandit" while evading police in stolen planes, boats and cars during a two-year crime spree was sentenced to more than seven years in prison Friday.
Colton Harris-Moore, left, also known as the "Barefoot Bandit," talks with his attorney, John Henry Browne, right, in Island County Superior Court, on Friday.
Judge Vickie Churchill said "this case is a tragedy in many ways, but it's a triumph of the human spirit in other ways." She described Harris-Moore's upbringing as a "mind-numbing absence of hope" and said she believed he was genuinely remorseful and contrite. "He survived," Churchill said.
Friday's proceedings consolidated cases against Harris-Moore in three Washington counties. He has already pleaded guilty to federal charges in Seattle and will be sentenced for those crimes early next year. He will serve his state and federal sentences at the same time.
Wearing handcuffs and an orange jail uniform, Colton Harris-Moore spoke softly in court while entering his pleas and sat next to his lawyers with his eyes downcast, looking even younger than his 20 years.
In a statement provided to the judge, he said his childhood was one he wouldn't wish on his "darkest enemies."
Still, he said he took responsibility for the crime spree that brought him international notoriety.
Freedom in flight
Harris-Moore said he studied manuals and online videos to teach himself to be a pilot, and the thrills he experienced while flying stolen planes renewed his passion for life and will help him rehabilitate while in prison.
"The euphoria of the countdown to takeoff and the realization of a dream was nearly blinding," he said of his first illicit flight on Nov. 11, 2008. "My first thought after takeoff was 'Oh my God, I'm flying.' I had waited my entire life for that moment."
He said he'll use his prison time to study and get ready to apply to college, with the hope of earning an aeronautical engineering degree.
Several victims and a few curious citizens watched Harris-Moore enter his pleas in Island County Superior Court, along with Harris-Moore's aunt.
"He was a menace," Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks told the court. "His burglaries threatened and distressed people. People were afraid to leave their houses."
He pleaded guilty to a total of 16 counts from Island County, including identity theft, theft of firearm and residential burglary. Then the hearing continued with Harris-Moore pleading guilty to 17 counts from San Juan County.
Harris-Moore's daring run from the law earned him international fame and a movie deal to help repay his victims after he flew a stolen plane from Indiana to the Bahamas in July 2010, crash-landed it near a mangrove swamp and was arrested by Bahamian authorities in a hail of bullets.
State prosecutors asked for a nine-and-a-half year sentence. Browne and attorney Emma Scanlan, sought a low-end, six-year term, citing Harris-Moore's bleak childhood in a Camano Island trailer with an alcoholic mother and a series of her convict boyfriends. They laid out the details of his upbringing in psychiatric and mitigation reports filed with the court.
for more:
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45696590/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/#.Tuv1mJiQnS8
Colton Harris-Moore, left, also known as the "Barefoot Bandit," talks with his attorney, John Henry Browne, right, in Island County Superior Court, on Friday.
Judge Vickie Churchill said "this case is a tragedy in many ways, but it's a triumph of the human spirit in other ways." She described Harris-Moore's upbringing as a "mind-numbing absence of hope" and said she believed he was genuinely remorseful and contrite. "He survived," Churchill said.
Friday's proceedings consolidated cases against Harris-Moore in three Washington counties. He has already pleaded guilty to federal charges in Seattle and will be sentenced for those crimes early next year. He will serve his state and federal sentences at the same time.
Wearing handcuffs and an orange jail uniform, Colton Harris-Moore spoke softly in court while entering his pleas and sat next to his lawyers with his eyes downcast, looking even younger than his 20 years.
In a statement provided to the judge, he said his childhood was one he wouldn't wish on his "darkest enemies."
Still, he said he took responsibility for the crime spree that brought him international notoriety.
Freedom in flight
Harris-Moore said he studied manuals and online videos to teach himself to be a pilot, and the thrills he experienced while flying stolen planes renewed his passion for life and will help him rehabilitate while in prison.
"The euphoria of the countdown to takeoff and the realization of a dream was nearly blinding," he said of his first illicit flight on Nov. 11, 2008. "My first thought after takeoff was 'Oh my God, I'm flying.' I had waited my entire life for that moment."
He said he'll use his prison time to study and get ready to apply to college, with the hope of earning an aeronautical engineering degree.
Several victims and a few curious citizens watched Harris-Moore enter his pleas in Island County Superior Court, along with Harris-Moore's aunt.
"He was a menace," Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks told the court. "His burglaries threatened and distressed people. People were afraid to leave their houses."
He pleaded guilty to a total of 16 counts from Island County, including identity theft, theft of firearm and residential burglary. Then the hearing continued with Harris-Moore pleading guilty to 17 counts from San Juan County.
Harris-Moore's daring run from the law earned him international fame and a movie deal to help repay his victims after he flew a stolen plane from Indiana to the Bahamas in July 2010, crash-landed it near a mangrove swamp and was arrested by Bahamian authorities in a hail of bullets.
State prosecutors asked for a nine-and-a-half year sentence. Browne and attorney Emma Scanlan, sought a low-end, six-year term, citing Harris-Moore's bleak childhood in a Camano Island trailer with an alcoholic mother and a series of her convict boyfriends. They laid out the details of his upbringing in psychiatric and mitigation reports filed with the court.
for more:
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45696590/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/#.Tuv1mJiQnS8
