2. Paul Henry Gingerich, 12
Paul Henry Gingerich played a central role in the murder of Phillip Danner, the stepfather of his friend Colt Lundy. The murder took place on the 21st of April 2010, when Lundy was 15 and Gingerich was only 12. The pair and their mutual friend Chase Williams (also 12) were planning to run away to Arizona together. Lundy knew that his stepfather would catch them, so Lundy hatched a plan to kill his stepfather. He enlisted the help of Gingerich and Williams; Williams would later get cold feet and would not participate in the murder.
Lundy convinced Gingerich to follow through with their plan, however. The two waited in Lundy’s house for Danner to return home, shooting him four times in the chest when he entered the living room. Gingerich was recently sentenced to 30 years in prison, with the possibility of parole by the age of 18 if he has engaged thoroughly with his rehabilitation programme. The public’s opinion is very much divided in terms of the decision – many state that Gingerich should be freed, believing him a victim of manipulation by 15 year old Lundy, while others believed he should have been tried as an adult and subjected to the full force of the law.
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