He is the youngest person to be accused of robbing a bank that many in this midwestern US town can remember, and now he could end up spending a good chunk of his life behind bars.
A judge in the juvenile court, noting the premeditation and the “extremely aggressive” manner in which Denote Moore, 13, pointed an unloaded handgun at several bank tellers last month, ordered his case be moved to adult court.
The mid-day heist on April 13 shocked many in this Rust Belt city.
Sheriff Michael McCoy said Moore was the youngest person to be arrested for bank robbery in his 37 years on the force. A prosecutor said he could not remember another such case in his 19 years of work.
The move means a potential prison sentence for Moore of 21 to 45 years.
Had the case remained in the juvenile courts, Moore’s imprisonment would have ended on his 21st birthday.
The robbery occurred at about 11:35 am.
Moore was arrested within 30 minutes after hiding in a garage only a few blocks away from the bank. His clothing was stained red from a dye pack that had exploded in the pillow case where tellers had put the money.
Moore told police he thought he had been shot, hearing the pop and seeing a big puff of red smoke.
The teen told police he had run away from home a month earlier and was stealing to get money for “clothing and stuff.”
Illinois law allows a juvenile to be tried as an adult if he or she is older than 13 and a judge finds “it is not in the best interest of the public” for the minor to remain in the juvenile justice system. Moore will turn 14 next month.
The judge, noting Moore was on probation and failed to comply with counseling and missed several appointments with his probation officer, found the boy to be a poor candidate to work with officials further.
An estimated 200,000 juveniles are tried, sentenced or incarcerated as adults every year in the United States, according to the Campaign for Youth Justice.
An average of 7,500 juveniles are incarcerated in adult jails at any given time and 40 states allow youths charged as adults to be held in adult jails while they wait for their case to be heard.
Source: Breitbart
July 30th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
The catch is that kids at this age are not only irrational thinkers, they believe they can get away with ANYTHING. They don’t realize how persistant and smart the police force can be. I think if the kid was put in jail until 21 that would be plenty of time to learn that this was morally wrong and isn’t feasible to get away with in the real world.
May 8th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
It is funny to read, but that ist seriousy fxxxed up. 13!!! 21 to 45 years!!! Makes me sad.
July 28th, 2009 at 4:01 am
I became the victim of a horrendous crime back in 2007 – a very violent attack, to be more precise. The offenders were a group of boys between the ages of 11 and 16. They had guns and didn’t hesitate to use force with me. The police had been searching for this same group of punks, as they had already attacked several other people, going so far as to shoot an elderly man in his own home. I feel absolutely no sorrow for any of these low life punks, these days. If a 13 year old is sophistocated enough to point a gun in a teller’s face and utter threats, he’s big enough to do time like a man. If a punk kills someone while committing a felony, give him or her the same sentence you’d have given an adult. The savage doesn’t deserve to be released, so he can spew his poison on society again. Execute him and send him straight to hell where he belongs.
I do not feel sad for this brat. He knew exactly what he was doing. He deserves everything that will eventually happen to him behind bars.
July 28th, 2009 at 4:58 am
“Denote Moore, 13, pointed an unloaded handgun” – “Execute him and send him straight to hell where he belongs.”
You make me sad, too.
October 18th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
I think that yo should all f*ck off, he’s only 13! Maybe life at home was hard enough for him and it’s the parents fault, give him a break ad a 2nd chance. Many other people who are older do way more f*cked up stuff,we should be worrying about them, not a 13yr old who didn’t kill anyone and who was pointing an UNLOADED gun -.-
October 18th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Merissa, you seem to miss the point….
Regardless of whether or not the gun was UNLOADED, he CHOSE to go into that bank and point it at several people who were just doing their jobs. They didn’t know whether or not the weapon was loaded…..just the same as the Police officers, doing THEIR jobs, could have potentially been put in the tragic situation of shooting him dead if he had pointed the weapon at them…
He put himself in that situation. If he were just stealing for “clothes and stuff”, he’d be simply shoplifting at the mall…
How about if a couple of 13 year olds broke into your home, pointed a weapon in your face then raped/sodomised you?
Would you not beat them to the ground and kick the sh*t out of them if you got the chance? Would you expect to be put on a charge for doing so?
Would you say “But they were only 13…give ‘em a 2nd chance”?
At 13, you KNOW the difference between right and wrong.
At 13, you KNOW that smashing your neighbour’s car with a hammer is wrong.
At 13, you KNOW that stealing anything is wrong.
The problem is that minors can hide behind the banner of juvenile crimes and get away with practically anything…
Tammy has been on the receiving end of what these little sh*ts think they can get away with….have a little compassion in case it happens to you.
October 18th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
“How about if a couple of 13 year olds broke into your home, pointed a weapon in your face then raped/sodomised you?”
That isn’t even close to what happened, is it? He pointed an unloaded gun and did not hurt anybody. Of course that is not tolerable behavior, but we all did a lot of stupid sh#t when we were 13. It may not have been this bad, but still bad enough to make an adult a bad person. In my country the kid would have gotten 200 hours of cleaning old peoples butts, and I consider this to be much more appropriate. 13! Too young to have sex, but old enough to go to jail for life? Sounds like Iran to me!
October 18th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
“Execute him and send him straight to hell where he belongs.”
Wow Tammy, I’m sorry for what happened to you but if you truly believe that a 13 year old child should be executed for robbing a bank then you need some serious help. I hope you don’t have any kids or work with kids…it’d be a shame if you past those asinine views on to a younger generation.
October 18th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
So I agree. Everyone deserves a second chance. So please give him a second chance as he can end up one of the end products of the failed justice system.. wait.. what is that I read? He has proven himself by already being in trouble with the law? Several times? Now I don’t know how such illiterate people even read this post and are now saying give him a second chance.. but i’m wondering how many second chances are there? Are the more than one second positioss in any race? Hell no! Ok. So let’s show compassion as the gun was unloaded! What utter stupidity! The fact that he can make sure the gun is unloaded indicates that he is sensible enough to know the value of human life.. and people.. for all those who don’t know, seven! 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 is the age of reasoning and he is damn near double that age! Now I don’t have to experience it to know that I might shit myself stupid if someone was to point a gun, they don’t even have to be threatening. Call me a coward. Now if someone pointed a gun at me and i saw the opportunity to deal with that person, that person will be beaten as best as i can. But if he does it to my son, he’d be dead! All who trying to show compassion it’s good to know that there are people who are still with feelings around.. it is very encouragin but to know that most seem to be stupid is also scary.. take a look at the facts and think: if it happened to you or a loved one, how would you react? Without bias, isn’t it fair to say that he already has proven him self a menace that is already determined difficult to deal with? Hasn’t he shown that he is intelligent enough to manipulate an entire roomfull of people? Give him a break you say? You know what they say about sparing the rod…
October 18th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Of course children will do stupid and dangerous when they are 13… they don’t yet have the brain development to fully understand the full implications of their actions.
This is why normal societies don’t give dangerous weapons to children.
October 19th, 2009 at 12:05 am
He was already on probation, which means this wasn’t his first offense. he wasn’t meeting with his probation officer and wasn’t showing up for counselling. I say put him up to adult court now and let him rot, he’s only going to end up there later anyway.
And while they’re at it, charge the parents for not giving a crap about their spawn.
October 19th, 2009 at 5:15 am
“7 is the age of reasoning”
I didn’t know that. I this case we should allow 7 year olds to have sex, drink alcohol, drive and completly emancipate them. Those lazy kids – don’t even have jobs when they are eight already.
“What utter stupidity! The fact that he can make sure the gun is unloaded indicates that he is sensible enough to know the value of human life.. and people..”
That is so true. A five year old would have killed everyone without a second thought. That he didn’t do so just proves how bad he is, otherwise he could have been treated as a child. On an unrelated matter: I am completly nuts.
October 19th, 2009 at 9:15 am
He’s 13. He’s not 6. There were plenty of options this boy could of taken and instead he chose to rob a bank. I STRONGLY disagree with “sending him to hell” but do believe he should be tried as an adult. Too many stupid kids to stupid things because they have this mentality that they are underage and wont get punished.. At 13 a majority of people are starting to make adult choices, getting pregnant, doing hard drugs.. Dropping out of school, joining gangs.. etc
21 years is not enough in my opinion. Wether life at home was horrid or not- it was a choice ONE human being made instead of perhaps going to a shelter or seeking help through any means.
October 19th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
@Nielow : simply put, the age of reasoning is the age that an average intelligent child can deferentiate between right and wrong. Suggesting that a child at that age have sex or smoke or drink clearly shows that you think the age of reasoning is the same as the age of adulthood. It’s not the same.
October 19th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
“How about if a couple of 13 year olds broke into your home, pointed a weapon in your face then raped/sodomised you?”
Nielow: That isn’t even close to what happened, is it?
No, but if he’s willing to saunter into a bank with a weapon, loaded or not, causing panic and distress to everyone around him….what else is he capable of?
Quite obviously, the weapon led to the power-trip which afforded him the opportunity to manipulate all those around him at that particular time….had he gotten away with the bank job, what’s to say that the next time he got an urge to be in a position of control….any urge…that the above could not be a possibility? He still has the weapon….it gives him power over other people….power to do whatever he wants to do…..
A question for you…
If someone pointed a weapon in your face, irrespective of the person’s age, would you have the balls to find out if it was loaded, or would you comply??
I think I would comply and deal with the personal nightmares later on…
Let’s also not forget how adult criminals become as such.
They have had to have started from somewhere. They don’t just suddenly wake up after the age of 21 and decide “Hey..I’m going to become a criminal today!”
Normally, a line is drawn and crossing it bears a consequence. This consequence used to be a short, sharp shock, in the form of a slap on the ass, at an early enough age to nip bad behaviour in the bud. The anti-smacking lobby have got their way and this ‘diabolical’ form of deterrant has been outlawed, FFS!
So, in place of this previously ‘barbaric’ treatment, we now have the naughty-step and talking…
…and we wonder why kids pay no mind, slap, kick, bite & scratch, curse & cajole their parents…BECAUSE THEY CAN AND CAN GET AWAY WITH IT, WITHOUT ANY PUNISHMENT!!!!!!
If they complain, the parents can end up accused of ‘abuse’ and the kids get taken away….placed alongside other naughty kids….maturing into adults without a sense of what is morally-acceptable behaviour….producing offspring with even less morals……….
And we wonder why the world is in such a shitty state…
Your thoughts please…
October 19th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
I know that it is not the same – my last post was a parody. I thought my last sentence gave me away.
But age of reasoning does not mean that you can tell right from wrong either. It means that you develop the skill to reason (deduct) between 2-7. But being able to argue has nothing to do with being morally stable. Of course I don’t think that a 7 year old child is fully developed, but neither is a 13 year old.
You are basicly proving my point: 13 year olds are neither wise nor fully aware of the consequences their actions cause, plus their hormones are making them crazy. That is exactly why they are not allowed to do what adults do. And that is why we can’t judge them like we judge adults.
October 19th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
Well it was actually a toss up between parody and sarcasm.. in any case, I agree would even go further and say an average 21 year old is not yet developed.. and notice my choice of words ‘AVERAGE’
October 21st, 2009 at 1:49 pm
U all make me sick… What in ur twisted, vindictive, an sadistic minds leads u to believe that this type of sentence will lead to a successful rehabilitation?! Send him to hell?! I hope the lord shows u just as much compassion as u so vehemently displayed here… Towards a child no less.
October 21st, 2009 at 3:31 pm
@Disgusted…
“.. ur (your) twisted, vindictive an(d) sadistic minds…blah, blah and more blah” ???
Are you kidding us? It’s those with the twisted and sadistic minds that have driven caring parents to protect their offspring, by NOT letting them out of their sight for fear of the worst happening.
Gone are the days when you could, as a child, leave the house in the morning and be gone ALL day, roaming the neighbourhood with friends etc. and not return until nightfall. Why….? Because the pervs, paedo’s and murderers have had increasingly lenient sentences, opportunities for plea-bargains, or even worse, been presumed innocent due to technicalities explolited by slick lawyers, regardless of past transgressions.
You only have to look at your recent Jaycee Dugard situation for an example of ineptitude and lack of follow-up. Garrido, a miscreant already connected to & cleared of the assault of a 14 year old girl, then imprisons and repeatedly violates another woman some 4 years later, but actually gets convicted this time…not-so-slick lawyer couldn’t pull the wool over the jury’s eyes..
Following interviews and being labelled as a sexual deviant, you would think that close tabs would have been placed upon him post release, but no, this f**ker got his chance to STRIKE AGAIN and commit the most despicable crimes toward a child. For a continuous 18 years……..
Should we pander and wrap up in cotton-wool, those who have constantly proven that they have no drive or desire to conform to normal societal rules, in the hope that they DON’T turn out to be the next Jeffrey Dahmer, Phillip Garrido, or other monsters who have preyed upon our children…..or do we nip it in the bud and protect the majority who are totally innocent?
Answer this one…..
If you have a particular affinity and craving for something and are unable to get it, for whatever reason, does the craving subside or increase??
These monsters may get segregated for a small period of time, but guess what they are thinking of?
The earlier the opportunity that arises to separate them from normal society, the better.
This kid has a proven track record for non-comformist behaviour….let the chips lie.
He’s no good and will continue to be no good throughout his adult life.
If you think otherwise, sponsor him, take him under your roof and be a mentor, take responsibility for his actions…..would you be willing to do that?
Thought so…..
December 29th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
he should be shot and his hands cut off