Author Topic: Petition for new trial in the Mountain Park Academy murder  (Read 12307 times)

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Offline Oscar

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Petition for new trial in the Mountain Park Academy murder
« on: July 29, 2010, 03:42:49 PM »
A child was killed in 1995 at the predecessor for ABM Ministries the infamous Mountain Park Academy

Both killers who were detained at school got life in prison. While some question that life in prison is better than a program, people have started to question the fairness of their trial and they petition for a new trial:

From: New Trial for Anthony Rutherford and Joe Burris:

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In 1995, a student was murdered at Mountain Park Baptist Boarding Academy, an unlicensed school for "troubled teens" in Patterson, Missouri
with a history of abuse allegations.

Will Futrelle, 15, was killed by two classmates, Joe Burris, 15, and Anthony Rutherford, 18. These students claim their motive for the crime was to get
national media attention for the children who were being mistreated at MP.

Sam Gerhardt, an operator of MP, was allowed to stand in and allow the young men to waive their right to an attorney when officials interviewed them.
Sam Gerhardt and the staff of the school are now being sued for alledgedly drugging the students of the school. If these boys were drugged, they would
not have been in a fit mental state to waive their rights.

When Rutherford and Burris were questioned, they claim they could not remember what they had planned to tell the media and officials when they arrived.
Based on the statements they gave at that time, Joe Burris was tried as an adult. This is legally and morally wrong.

We believe that Mountain Park has had the local officials either blind-sided or in their hip-pockets for many years. We intend to put a stop to this. We are
petitioning the courts to give Anthony Rutherford and Joe Burris a new trial.

We at Spft support this petition while we condemn the act itself. While we understand self-harm in a situation where even animals would have sacrificed a leg to get free it is not acceptable to take the life on another human being.

Becase of the legacy of the state of Missouri no caring for minors in religious boarding schools, we feel that they did not have a fair trial where they during the entire process in the police and justice system had qualified legal support to their aid.

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Link to the Fican thread - Link to the Youthright thread
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »

Offline Oscar

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Anthony Rutherford has died
« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2015, 07:12:25 AM »
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Man convicted as a teen of murder at Missouri boarding school dies
by Mike Lear, MissouriNet, July 8, 2015

A man convicted as a teenager of killing another teen in 1996 at a now-closed southeast Missouri boarding school has died in prison.

37-year-old Anthony Rutherford and another then-teenager killed 16-year-old William Andrew Futrelle II of Boca Raton, Florida, while the three were out collecting firewood. Rutherford and his accomplice reportedly planned to steal guns and take over the school to get national attention, and killed Futrelle to keep him from revealing their plan.

Rutherford was pronounced dead yesterday at the state prison in Cameron where he was serving life without parole. The Corrections Department says foul play is not suspected in his death.

His accomplice in that murder, Joseph Burris, is serving life at the state prison in Jefferson City.

The school, Mountain Park Baptist Boarding Academy, closed in 2004 after years of criticism over its use of corporal punishment coupled with strict discipline and fundamentalist teachings in working with teens with behavioral problems.

Not that he had much to decide on when he killed the boy. The life chosen was better than the alternative - continued stay at religious boarding school in Missouri.