A St. Louis woman urged Missouri senators Tuesday afternoon not to be too lenient when it comes to requiring a prison sentence for teen killers.
Rose Whitrock fought nervousness and tears as she remembered the Oct. 5, 2009, break-in of her home by two men, 16 and 21.
"(They) basically held us hostage for 30 minutes - during the course of that home invasion, my 34-year-old daughter was killed" and two others were seriously wounded, Whitrock testified. "The 16-year-old did not act like a child in my home.
"He shot my daughter, (Gina Stallis), who was the mother of two young boys, (and) that 16-year-old put a barrel of a gun to my 78-year-old mother's head and told her he was going to kill her."
Whitrock told the Senate's Judiciary Committee on Tuesday the men had a choice, but "they weren't there to rob us, they were there to hurt us ... and they chose to kill. ... We have to stop treating these criminals like they're victims."
Whitrock's testimony came as Missouri lawmakers are being asked for the fourth year to change the way juveniles under 18 are sentenced if they're tried and convicted as adults of first-degree murder.
Current state law says a first-degree murder conviction carries either a death sentence or life in prison without parole.
However, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled several years ago that people 18 and under cannot be executed. Then in 2012 the justices said a mandatory life-without-parole sentence also is unconstitutional.
Also, this year, the high court said its previous rulings should be applied to sentences given even before the rulings were issued - affecting 81 people currently serving life without parole in Missouri prisons for murders they committed as teens.
State Sen. Bob Dixon, R-Springfield, wants lawmakers to require a minimum 35-year sentence "if they're 16 and under," and 50 years, or life in prison without parole, for convicted killers who were 17 or 18 when the crime occurred.
Sen. Joe Keaveny, D-St. Louis, wondered why a minimum 50-year sentence isn't "the same as life without parole." Dixon said he's willing to debate the idea, but his proposed ages seem to fit the different opinions he's heard from fellow lawmakers.
Two men who have served prison time urged the senators to give juveniles a second chance.
Jefferson Citian Anthony Williams, now 34, told lawmakers he was 14 when he was sentenced for a crime he later proved he didn't commit - and was released from prison in July 2014.
"I was one of two of the youngest juveniles ever to be sentenced to life with no parole in Missouri," he said. "The point I want to make today is that kids can change, if given the opportunity and if given the right support."
Also, Billy Harris, 44, now of St. Louis, was 16 in 1987 when he, his sister and some friends - high on drugs - murdered a Neosho man accused of raping his sister's roommate. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and served 15 years of a 35-year sentence.
"Obviously, what I did was extremely wrong - I had no right to take those actions," he testified. "I got another chance. ...
"I just feel that 50 years for a person is too strict, and I believe that anyone, any juvenile offender, should have a realistic second chance to become a productive member of society."
Representing Missouri Faith Voices and the NAACP, the Rev. Cassandra Gould, of Jefferson City, reminded the committee "dozens of studies show that teenagers' brains are not the same as adults'."
Jasper County Prosecutor Dean Dankelson reported the Supreme Court ruling's effect on a recent case where a 17-year-old was convicted of first-degree murder for killing a fellow teen, as the victim was waking up one morning.
Then, because the jury couldn't agree on a life-without-parole sentence, the judge had to overturn the first-degree murder conviction and impose a sentence for second-degree murder - because that charge allows more flexibility, including a life sentence with some future parole possibility.
"That was a very unfortunate thing for our victim's family to have to go through," Dankelson said, "and, quite honestly, difficult for us to explain why that procedure had to take place."
Dixon's bill "is a much superior alternative" because it gives judges and juries options that comply with the U.S. Supreme Court rulings, Dankelson said.
Mid-Missourians serving "life without parole' for crimes committed as teens
Inmate, current age, age at crime, date, and description of crime:
William Branch, 34, 17, 3/4/99, murder of Jefferson City Gas Plus attendant Michael Alfaro.
Christopher Creed, 38, 17, 12/7/94, murders of two security guards at the Lake of the Ozarks.
Jessie Carter, 35, 17, 2/1/98, murders of Susan Brouk and her two children near their home in rural Vichy.
Jess Rush, 40, 15, 4/6/91, murder of Trudy Darby after helping kidnap her from Macks Creek store.