Teen accused of (school) bus-stop murder, calls victim faggot
Fred Bradford
> Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1998 07:46:08 EST
> From: SARAT...@aol.com
msg fwd by:
the Coalition for Safer Schools of NYS, PO Box 2345, Malta, NY 12020,
(518)587-0176, sarat...@aol.com
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, December 4, 1998
72 Marietta Street NW,Atlanta,GA,30303
(Fax 404-526-5746 ) (E-MAIL: jou...@ajc.com )
( http://www.accessatlanta.com )
Teen accused of bus-stop murder released on bond
By Mark Bixler, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Cherokee County 15-year-old who was kicked out of school 11 times and
now faces murder charges
in the beating death of a younger neighbor was given bond Thursday.
Jonathan Miller, a high school sophomore, faces murder charges as an
adult in the Nov. 2 school bus
stop beating of 13-year-old Josh Belluardo. Neighbors and school officials
said Jonathan has a "history"
of cursing teachers, intimidating other children and making threats.
At E.T. Booth Middle School, Jonathan was in trouble 34 times in two
years, Principal Phil Gramling
said.
Jonathan's parents became angry when contacted about their son's
behavior, Gramling said. He said
Jonathan's parents were "defensive and not supportive" during meetings with
teachers and school
administrators. "It was usually someone else's fault" in their eyes, he said.
Jonathan received in-school
suspension eight times and out-of-school suspension 11 times while in the
seventh and eighth grades,
Gramling said.
Investigators said Josh, who attended E.T. Booth Middle School, and
Jonathan, who started his second
year at Etowah High School this fall, rode the same bus. They lived across
the street from each other.
Witnesses said Jonathan had been picking on Josh since school started.
He had called Josh names and
thrown objects at the younger boy. Before the bus stopped near their homes
the afternoon of Nov. 2,
children overheard Jonathan discuss whether he should hit Josh from behind or
above the right eyebrow as he
sat dazed on the ground seconds after he stepped off the school bus and began
walking home. He lay in a
coma for two days before his family disconnected him from life-support
machines.
Judge C. Michael Roach decided Jonathan can be released from the Youth
Detention Center, where he
has been held since the attack, if relatives pay a $50,000 bond. Judges in
most metro Atlanta counties
rarely release murder suspects on bond, but judges in Cherokee often do.
Roach said Jonathan's parents
must find a place for him to live that is at least 15 miles from the
subdivision cul-de-sac where he and
Josh were neighbors.
Roach said Jonathan must remain on 24-hour house arrest and that he must
wear an electronic monitor
to track his movements. The judge also ordered a psychiatric examination and
instructed Jonathan not to
talk with witnesses.
Josh's parents, John and Vicki Belluardo, pleaded with Roach to keep
Jonathan locked up.
"That coward came up behind my son and murdered him," John Belluardo
said, his voice breaking.
"We had to take (Josh) off life support. I had to buy a casket and put him in
the ground."
"It's not right for him to be able to go. It's just not right," he said.
Vicki Belluardo also cried as she testified. She said she feared "for
other children in the
neighborhood" if Jonathan returned home. She said Jonathan's parents, Alan
and Robin Miller, never
adequately addressed their son's behavioral problems in the years before Josh
was killed.
"I don't feel that this family has taken things seriously in the past,"
she said. "If they had, my son
would be here."
Defense witnesses described Jonathan as a "typical teenager" from a nice
family. Jonathan's attorney,
Michael B. Syrop, called seven witnesses, including Jonathan's father.
Alan Miller said his son had been in less trouble since entering high
school. "Junior high was a
problem (but) the last few years have not been as much of a problem," Miller
said. Several defense
witnesses described Jonathan as a Boy Scout who loved computers and swimming
albeit a "class clown"
at school.
"I love him. He's very kind. He's a sucker for stray animals," said
Carol O'Quinn, who hired
Jonathan's mother to be a "nurse-helper."
Neighbor Jean Vredenburgh said Jonathan was in her house "all the time"
because he was friends with
her sons.
"I think he's just a very normal, typical teenager," she said.
Prosecutor Rachelle Carnesale called 14 witnesses to support her
contention that Jonathan should
remain in custody. The first, 16-year-old Travis Swett, said Jonathan hit him
in the back of the head after
they got off the school bus about a year before Josh was attacked.
Travis also was on the bus the day Josh was assaulted. He said Jonathan
called Josh a "bitch" and a
"faggot" and decided with friends that he would hit Josh from behind after
they got off the bus.
Another 16-year-old on the bus the day Josh was attacked testified that
Jonathan often picked on Josh.
Kristen Raymond said she heard Jonathan say that Josh was gay and that "gay
people deserve to die."
Travis' father, Roy Swett, said he talked with Jonathan's father after
Travis was hit. "His dad told me
pretty much if Jonathan had hit Travis, he must have deserved it."
Swett said he told the Millers that he might file a lawsuit. He said
Alan Miller told him to "go right
ahead and sue" because Miller worked for IBM and the company has some of "the
best lawyers in the
world."
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Sam Damon (Dept of Medicine)
response to make sense. I recommend that readers refer back to the
original excellently-reported story uploaded by Fred Bradford.
On Thu, 17 Dec 1998, Fred Bradford wrote:
> Teen accused of bus-stop murder released on bond
> [ ... ]
> Another 16-year-old on the bus the day Josh was attacked testified that
> Jonathan often picked on Josh.
> Kristen Raymond said she heard Jonathan say that Josh was gay and that "gay
> people deserve to die."
> [ ... Travis Swett is another boy beaten by JOnathan Miller ... ]
> Travis' father, Roy Swett, said he talked with Jonathan's father after
> Travis was hit. "His dad told me pretty much if Jonathan had hit
> Travis, he must have deserved it."
> Swett said he told the Millers that he might file a lawsuit. He said
> Alan Miller told him to "go right
> ahead and sue" because Miller worked for IBM and the company has some of "the
> best lawyers in the
> world."
I wonder how IBM would feel if they heard their name used in such a
context. I don't know the company's stance on gay issues (i.e. domestic
partnership), but for purely PR reasons, I'm sure that they'd prefer
not to connected to such brutality. To threaten to use their corporate
lawyers for an employee's personal reasons is a sure violation of
corporate policy. Indeed, it's very similar to Clinton's alleged use of
government property and staff to coverup his personal scandal.
Do you guys know how to contact IBM or Roy Swett? Sending the son to
jail is not enough punishment for the father, whose [alleged] attitude
fosters such violence. I'd like to forward the story to IBM, and tell
Swett to make an official complaint.