The Empty House Of Lena Bruner

• Michael Gulley (15), Nathan McCants (17), and Joe Sullivan (13) break in the empty house of Lena Bruner. Michael takes money and some of Ms. Burner’s possessions.

• Later that afternoon, the elderly Ms. Bruner is raped and is unable to clearly describe her abuser. All she knew was that it was a dark colored boy with curly hair. Michael Gulley, Nathan McCants, and Joe Sullivan are all African American.

• Nathan accuses Joe of sexual assault in order to save himself. Joe is not apprehended that day but he voluntarily turns himself in the next day. He admits to helping in the burglary but denies any knowledge or involvement in the sexual assault.

• Joe is tried as an adult at only thirteen years old.

• Michael and Nathan make up all of these lies about Joe and convince the court that he did in fact rape Ms. Bruner, when this was not the case. Michael and Nathan were lying to save themselves.

• Nathan is sentenced as an adult to four-and-one-half years and serves just six months.

• Michael has a criminal history and somehow he is tried as a juvenile and only spends a short period of time in juvenile detention.

• They had semen and blood samples that they did not test and someone witnessed a glimpse of a black male running from Ms. Burner’s house after she was raped. Yet, no one makes use or pays adequate attention to this evidence, probably because it would prove Joe innocent.

• Ms. Bruner is even hesitant towards naming Joe as her offender. Nothing is done properly throughout this entire case.

• No one gives Joe a fair trial, he thought he did the right thing by turning himself in, however, he sent himself to jail. Based off of his background and the need to arrest someone, Joe was an easy target.

• He is sentenced to life i...

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...who reflects on his or her own teenage years: Young teens lack the maturity, independence, and future orientation that adults have acquired” (Stevenson, 2014, p. 268). Bryan tries to explain this to the court as a way to prove that trying children as adults is unethical.

• “More than 2,500 children in the United States had been sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. Most juveniles sentenced to life imprisonment without parole had been convicted of homicide crimes. We estimated there were fewer than two hundred juveniles serving life without parole for non-homicide offenses” (Stevenson, 2014, pp. 269-270).

• Bryan goes to the U.S. Supreme Court to discuss these issues. Nothing is decided or determined during this chapter.

• After speaking to the U.S. Supreme Court, Bryan visits Joe and catches up with him. As always, Joe is eager to have someone to take to.