Michael Carneal was sentenced to life in prison for the 1998 school shooting at Heath High School in Paducah, Kentucky after pleading guilty. Three people were killed and seven wounded at the time of the shooting. For the past couple of years Carneal has been trying to get his guilty plea withdrawn by claiming he was mentally ill. This past week Carneal’s second attempt to get his plea withdrawn has been denied.
The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals that Carneal was mentally competent at least beginning in 2004 and could have filed for an appeal at that time but since then time has run out for Carneal to successfully file an appeal. Carneal claimed that he heard voices that not only convinced him to commit the shooting but to plead guilty as well. How convenient. Personally I think the only think he suffered from was the age-old malady of fakeritis.
As I’ve said before Carneal has tried to blame everyone but himself for the shooting. Thanks to the courts Carneal will continue to be held responsible for his deadly and cowardly actions. At least until he’s up for parole in 10 years.
Paducah gunman appeals his sanity
It seems that all the old classics are coming out of the woodwork to claim that they’re insane.
On the heels of Kip Kinkel’s latest request to be found insaneMichael Carneal is trying to accomplish something similar. Carneal was the gunman at the 1997 school shooting at Heath High School in Paducah, Kentucky that claimed the lives of three.
The last time we heard about Carneal he had just had an appeal to change his guilty plea denied. At that time the judge stated that Carneal had missed his deadline stating that Carneal’s alleged mental illness was under control by the time the appeal’s window of opportunity ran out.
Now Carneal’s lawyer is challenging that ruling claiming that the judge did not apply the proper judicial standard.
As I’ve said before Carneal has always blamed his actions on others. He claimed he was bullied though he killed people in a prayer group then he claimed that he heard voices. Much like Kinkel this is just another attempt for Carneal to get out of his life sentence.
I guess pretty soon we should be reading about how Mitchell Johnson, the Jonesboro gunman who is doing time on federal gun and drug charges, feels he was wrong targeted by police.
Michael Carneal’s plea withdraw request denied
Published on July 15, 2011 by Trench Reynolds in Heath High School. 2 CommentsTags: heath high school, michael carneal, school shooting.
School shooter Michael Carneal loses bid to withdraw guilty plea:
Michael Carneal was the gunman at the 1997 school shooting at Heath High School in Paducah, Kentucky. Paducah was ground zero of what I like to call the modern era of school shootings that started in the 90s with Carneal that claimed the lives of 3. Then followed Jonesboro, then Kip Kinkel and then Columbine. Carneal is currently serving a life sentence with the eligibility for parole after 25 years.
Recently Carneal has been trying to get his guilty plea thrown out claiming that he heard voices which caused him not only to commit the shooting but also to make the guilty plea. Again I ask how come ‘the voices’ never tell you to paint the house or assist the elderly but I digress. This past Wednesday a judge threw out Carneal’s most recent request to withdraw his guilty plea saying that time ran out for Carneal to make this request.
U.S. District Judge Thomas B. Russell said in a ruling Wednesday that 28-year-old Michael Adam Carneal likely could have challenged the guilty plea in 2002 or 2003 before the clock ran out on his opportunity to appeal. Russell said the mental illness was under control by then.
Carneal has always blamed others for the shooting. He claimed he was bullied yet shot kids in a prayer circle. Then he claimed the voices made him do it. On top of that he’s never apologized to his victims. Personally I think that Carneal was never mentally ill and is just looking for any