Townville school shooter’s life sentences changed
TOWNVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - Jesse Osborne, who opened fire on the playground of Townville Elementary School in 2016, had his prison sentence amended on Friday.
The court order changed his two life sentences to 75 years in prison for both counts of murder. According to officials, changing his sentence to a numerical figure allows him to participate in different programs in the S.C. Department of Corrections.
Osborne was 14 years old when he shot and killed 6-year-old Jacob Hall at Townville Elementary. He also killed his father, Jeffrey Osborne, before the school shooting.
Prosecutors said if Osborne were older at the time of the murders, they would have recommended the death penalty.
In a hearing earlier this year, Osborne, now 21, apologized to his victims in court for the first time. His defense attorney Frank Eppes asked a judge to consider resentencing him to 30 years in prison for murder and 15 for attempted murder, citing his age, mental health and history of abuse.
Friday’s court order denies the request for a reduced sentence, saying 75 years is still “effectively a life sentence.”
“At the time of the hearing on the defendant’s motion for reconsideration, defendant had not come to terms with his crimes committed at Townville Elementary School, although he had done so for the murder of his father,” the order states. “Additional, defendant essentially isolated himself in his cell thereby avoiding stressors that could complicate and/or aggravate defendant’s mental health.”
The order says Osborne declined mental health treatment offered by the Department of Corrections.
Below is the full court order:
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