Near Two Harbors, 34 structures burned and Highway 61 closed; in Crow Wing County, a 1,600-acre fire sparked evacuations

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

 (AP) - The Minnesota Supreme Court on Thursday upheld
the conviction and life sentence of a teenager who killed two
students at Rocori High School, but declined the take up the
constitutionality of the state's law for mental illness defenses.

      John Jason McLaughlin was 15 when he brought a pistol to the
school in Cold Spring on Sept. 24, 2003. Aaron Rollins, 17, died
that day. Seth Bartell, 14, was wounded in the head and died 16
days later.

      McLaughlin's appeal claimed that the state's rule for insanity
defenses is unconstitutional because adolescent brains develop
differently than those of adults. 

It also claimed the trial judge
was wrong to impose back-to-back sentences of life and 12 years in
prison instead of allowing McLaughlin to serve the sentences at the
same time.

      Minnesota law sets a high bar for insanity defenses. The
standard, called the M'Naghten Rule, from an 1843 British case,
says only people who don't know right from wrong or who don't
understand the nature of their acts can be found not guilty by
reason of mental illness.

      McLaughlin's appeal argued that it's unconstitutional to apply
that rule to adolescents because their brains aren't fully
developed in areas related to impulse control, risk assessment, and
moral reasoning. 

But his appeal was the first time McLaughlin
raised that issue, justice Paul H. Anderson wrote. Because of that,
the court rejected that appeal without getting into the merits of
the state's rule for insanity defenses.

      There seemed to be general agreement that McLaughlin had mental
problems. Six mental health experts testified at his trial,
including three who diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia and
three who diagnosed him with a major depressive disorder in
remission.

      Back-to-back life- and 12-year sentences are in line with other
similar crimes, Anderson wrote.

      "McLaughlin shot two fellow students, one of them (Bartell)
twice and at close range. Both students were defenseless.
McLaughlin planned and carried out the shootings in a methodical
manner, and minutes after the shootings occurred, he acknowledged
to (a Bureau of Criminal Apprehension agent) that he knew what he
did was wrong," the ruling said.

      The ruling also upheld the trial judge's determination that the
mental health issues weren't enough to reduce McLaughlin's
sentence.

      "There was no consensus that McLaughlin frequently suffered
delusions and engaged in wholly irrational behavior, despite the
broad agreement that McLaughlin's mental health was compromised to
some degree," Anderson wrote.

      Attorneys for McLaughlin and the state Attorney General's
office, which prosecuted the case, did not return phone messages
left by The Associated Press.
      

Gallery

Rocori shooter's case rests on legal test for insanity

Joshua Freed

Author

The Minnesota Supreme Court upheld on Thursday
the conviction of a teenager sentenced to life in prison for
killing two students at Rocori High School in 2003.

Supreme Court upholds conviction of Rocori High School shooter

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox