Found Deceased WY - Shayna Ritthaler, 16, Moorcroft, 3 Oct 2019 *juvenile arrested*

[mlhenn]

How the hell is shooting someone in the head manslaughter? Ridiculous.

Sturgis teen pleads guilty in shooting death of Wyoming teen - KNBN NewsCenter1

-agreed, ridiculous!


Michael Gavin Campbell, 17, of Sturgis, admitted to shooting 16-year-old Shayna Ritthaler in the head after getting in an argument.
Campbell pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in a Meade County courtroom as part of an agreement with prosecutors. Instead of facing the maximum penalty of life in prison, Campbell agreed to a 55-year sentence and to pay $8,339.54 in restitution.

Campbell will appear again in court on Friday, July 10 at 9 a.m. for formal sentencing.

 

[borndem]

Just saw this, and just joining this thread. Please forgive if it is a repeat.

Wyo. Girl, 16, Is Killed by S.D. Teen She Met Online After Wanting to 'Run Away' with Him

Michael Gavin Campbell, 17, and 16-year-old Shayna Ritthaler met on an online dating site

By Harriet Sokmensuer
May 08, 2020 12:41 PM
A South Dakota teen has admitted to killing a 16-year-old girl who ran away from home to be with him after they met online.

On Thursday, Michael Campbell, 17, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the killing of 16-year-old Shayna Ritthaler, according to the Argus Leader, KNBN and KOTA.
[...]
Weeks earlier, she had met Campbell on the dating website Badoo. The pair eventually planned for Campbell to drive to Wyoming to pick Ritthaler up so she could "run away and live with him in his house," prosecutors said in court on Thursday, the Leader reports.

More here:
Wyo. Girl, 16, Is Killed by S.D. Teen She Met Online After Wanting to 'Run Away' with Him

At least he's in custody.
WTH was he thinking?
Was this horror part of his plan all along?

SMH, anger, and sadness is all I have right now.
And dammit.

 

[ZoriahNZ]

$8,300 in 'restitution', is that the price of a dead innocent teenage girl these days?

Sorry for the snappiness but I'm very sad and angry on behalf of Shayna.

Quite often prosecutors will offer a plea deal to ensure a conviction but sometimes it just doesn't seem enough.

 

[borndem]

Sturgis teen pleads guilty to killing missing Wyoming girl

Few details about how Campbell and Ritthaler knew each other had been released up until this point, but some information was shared in court Thursday. (May 7)

The two had met online through a dating site called Badoo, Bordewyk said Thursday.

The two talked online for several weeks.
At some point, they planned to meet and she was going to "run away and live with him in his house."
Campbell drove to Wyoming and picked her up, then brought her back to his home.

An argument preceded the shooting. During the argument, Campbell went and got a gun and killed the victim by shooting her once in the head. He shot her "without the design to cause her death" Bordewyk said, which is an element to first-degree manslaughter.

Thanks for the article, @mlhenn -- interesting indeed.
And he kept her body in his house for months? How did that work out? SMH.
bbm and rbm
What??? Shot her in the head without the design to cause her death. WTH did he think was gonna happen, folks? Give her a headache?? Damm. Sounds more like 1st degree murder to me, but that's JMO.
I'm gonna leave it at that... Still SMH.

On a different tack -- she wanted to go live at his house. That's kind of sad, seems to me. Maybe she was bored in that little town or didn't like school or wanted a boyfriend... The teenage years can be tuff, as many of us will remember. Perhaps in her mind she saw herself as not the prettiest, or not the most athletic, or not the most popular or not the smartest, or not the teacher's pet, or not many pretty outfits to wear to school, etc., etc.

He may have caught her at a vulnerable time...
Poor little teenage girl. SMH

 

[borndem]

How the hell is shooting someone in the head manslaughter? Ridiculous.

Exactly. If he got up and got a weapon, then that should be called "premeditated," which is Murder in the First Degree in SD.
Apparently he said he didn't mean to kill her, but really, now, a gunshot to her head? Why not to her hand or or foot, or why not simply firing at the ceiling or at a picture on the wall?
Nope, not buying it...
SD law on 1st Degree Murder:

Code Section
South Dakota Code section 22-16-4: First Degree Murder
What's Prohibited?
Homicide is murder in the first degree if:

• Committed without the authority of law and with a premeditated design to cause the death of the victim or of another human being (including an unborn child)

[... deleted by borndem to shorten...]

Definition of Premeditation
The term "premeditation design to effect the death" means an intention, purpose, or determination to kill or take the life of the person killed, distinctly formed in the mind of the perpetrator before committing the act that results in the victim's death. Premeditation may be formed instantly before committing the act.
Penalties
Murder in the first degree is a Class A felony that punishable by death or life imprisonment and by a fine of up to $50,000.

South Dakota First-Degree Murder - FindLaw.com

 

[Kudzuu]

$8,300 in 'restitution', is that the price of a dead innocent teenage girl these days?

Sorry for the snappiness but I'm very sad and angry on behalf of Shayna.

Quite often prosecutors will offer a plea deal to ensure a conviction but sometimes it just doesn't seem enough.

I'd say Zero is the price since he'll be in jail with no job.

 

[borndem]

I'd say Zero is the price since he'll be in jail with no job.

The only way he'd be able to pay this (cheap, insulting) price is for him to have a "job" in prison and have his wages captured to pay the debt. I hope this can be done if he does get a job inside the jailhouse. Grrrrr. Maybe that's the whole idea of imposing a fine -- dunno -- if so, I like it.

 

[iulia]

South Dakota teen gets 55-years for killing of Wyoming girl

A South Dakota teenager was sentenced Friday to 55 years in prison after admitting he fatally shot a Wyoming girl last fall.

The 17-year-old Sturgis boy was sentenced after pleading guilty in May to first-degree manslaughter for killing Shayna Ritthaler, a 16-year-old from Upton, Wyoming.

 

[indicolite22]

How man of the 55-years will he realistically serve?

 

[chimpface]

How man of the 55-years will he realistically serve?

From the article-

"He can seek parole after 27 years when he is 44 years old."

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Shayna Ritthaler was 16 when she ran away with 17-year-old Michael Campbell, whom she'd met online. Within days, Campbell shot and killed her at his mother's home in Sturgis, South Dakota, in October 2019

“You got to forgive, but you don’t have to forget,” he said. “This is something that the state of Wyoming needs to do. It’s almost like they shrug off runaways as if they’ll automatically be back or show up some place.”

“We need to do better,” he added, “because our kids deserve it.”

He also questioned the need for parents to automatically give their kids cell phones like he had as well as their automatic right to privacy as minors.

“There’s a lot of information on a stupid phone, especially when that someone is a teen and potentially endangered,” he said.

Grandparents Of Murdered Upton Teen Plead For Missing Persons Bill

By the time authorities were legally able to enter the home on Oct. 7, 2019, it was too late. Shayna Ritthaler was found dead in a closet covered with…

cowboystatedaily.com