OAN Staff James Meyers
8:25 AM – Friday, September 6, 2024
Georgia high school shooting suspect Colt Gray appeared in court for the first time Friday, followed soon after by his dad, after he allegedly massacred two students and two teachers at his high school.
Advertisement
The 14-year-old shackled gunman, dressed in a green prison outfit, appeared in Barrow County Court for a brief bond hearing after being charged as an adult with four counts of murder over Wednesday’s horrific slayings at Apalachee High School.
As Gray sat in the courtroom obscuring his face, the judge told him he could face the death penalty if convicted.
“I want to make you aware that the maximum penalty for felony murder. So, for each count, the maximum penalty is that you could be punishable by death, by imprisonment for life without parole or by imprisonment for life, with the possibility of parole,” Judge Currie Mingledorff II originally told Gray at the hearing.
The suspected gunman, who did not enter a plea, was escorted from the court with his wrists and ankles shackled after his lawyer declined to seek bail.
However, judge Mingledorff II quickly had Gray come back into the courtroom to overrule himself, telling him that he is not eligible for the death penalty since he is younger than 18-years-old and, instead, could face life in prison.
Colin Gray, 54, his father, appeared in the same courtroom just moments later after being hit with two counts of second-degree murder, four counts of involuntary manslaughter and eight counts of cruelty to children, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI).
“For the felony murder counts… the maximum penalty for each count is up to 30 years imprisonment,” the judge said. “For felony involuntary manslaughter… the maximum penalty for for each of those offenses is ten years imprisonment.”
“For the eight felony cruelty to children counts, the maximum penalty under the law for each of those eight counts is ten years imprisonment for a maximum total, possible penalty for the charges that you currently are facing, of 180 years imprisonment,” the judge concluded.
The suffering relatives of at least one of the victims were seated in the first row of the courtroom for both hearings and could be seen, at one point, tearfully clutching a soft toy.
Meanwhile, the teenager is accused of killing four and wounding nine others when he went on a shooting rampage at his high school in Winder, Georgia on Wednesday morning.
The father’s preliminary hearing in his case, just like his son’s, will be on December 4th.
Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts
Advertisements below
Be the first to comment