Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 17, 1993 TAG: 9307170174
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
He got it - 11 years in the penitentiary.
"I'm still young, and I have a long life," he testified. "If I do this now, it's better for me than if they let me out soon, without any help, and I end up going back in."
In a soft voice, Reynolds testified about how he has changed from the street-tough teen who carried a gun and a grudge to Roanoke's Alternative Education Center last Sept. 16.
After wounding 18-year-old Shawn Brown with a gunshot to the hip, Reynolds chased him through a I don't think I've been there long enough. With more counseling and education, when I get out . . . I know that I'll be a better person. Michael J. Reynolds Shot student at Roanoke's Alternative Education Center crowded schoolyard, shooting on the run as other students ran for cover.
Later that day, police arrested Reynolds and took him to the Coyner Springs Juvenile Detention Center, where he's been since.
"I don't think I've been there long enough," Reynolds said Friday. With more counseling and education, he said, "when I get out . . . I know that I'll be a better person."
Because Reynolds pleaded guilty earlier to malicious wounding and an unrelated charge of distributing crack, the key issue at Friday's sentencing was whether he should go to a juvenile detention home or to prison.
Regional Drug Prosecutor Alice Ekirch said prison - for the maximum 20 years.
But when a 17-year-old goes to prison, Assistant Public Defender Steve Milani asked Judge Diane Strickland, what kind of person eventually walks out?
"He would have been in the furnace of the adult penal system, and he will be forged into a completely different" person, Milani said.
Strickland agreed that Reynolds might benefit from juvenile treatment, but said she also must consider society's needs.
No matter how much Reynolds may have changed in the past 10 months, he was still "a young man with a very evil purpose" the day he shot Brown, Strickland said.
After more than a dozen court hearings, the exact "purpose" of the shooting remained unclear Friday.
Brown said earlier that the dispute started when Reynolds stole some stereo equipment from him. Reynolds said Friday it was over allegations that he sold Brown some overpriced equipment.
Whatever the reason, Reynolds said it led to a series of threats and taunts from Brown. He said he feared for his and his family's safety.
So on Sept. 16, he tucked a pistol under his shirt and went to the Alternative Education Center off Orange Avenue. Earlier testimony indicated he told an administrator he was "out to get" Brown.
After waiting at the edge of school property, Reynolds confronted Brown in the parking lot and shot him as he climbed into his vehicle.
Brown fled, but Reynolds chased him and fired more shots as they ran across the parking lot, into a building and down a hallway, then back outside again.
One witness said Reynolds reloaded on the run, taking ammunition from a companion, who was running just behind him.
Reynolds was tried as an adult for the shooting and drug charges. But other offenses - including a charge of carrying a gun on school property - were tried in juvenile court, where he received an indefinite term in a detention home.
That sentence likely will be replaced by the prison sentence he received Friday: 10 years on the malicious wounding charge and one year for selling drugs. He will be eligible for parole in about two years.
by CNB