US boy appeals prison sentence imposed at age 12

Updated 30 October 2012
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US boy appeals prison sentence imposed at age 12

INDIANAPOLIS: An Indiana boy who was 12 when sentenced to 25 years in prison for helping a friend kill the other boy’s stepfather says his case should have been handled in juvenile court.
The Indiana Court of Appeals will hear Paul Henry Gingerich’s case Tuesday.
The boy’s attorney says prosecutors and the judge failed to consider whether the sixth-grader was mature enough to be tried as an adult. Court documents say the only psychologist to evaluate Gingerich raised doubts about his ability to understand the legal process.
State attorneys say the boy waived his right to appeal as part of his plea agreement.
Gingerich, who is now 14, was accused in the 2010 fatal shooting of Phillip Danner. Investigators say it was part of a plan to run away to Arizona.


Bomb attacks on Thailand petrol stations injure 4: army

Updated 3 sec ago
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Bomb attacks on Thailand petrol stations injure 4: army

BANGKOK: Assailants detonated bombs at nearly a dozen petrol stations in Thailand’s south early Sunday, injuring four people, the army said, the latest attacks in the insurgency-hit region.
A low-level conflict since 2004 has killed thousands of people as rebels in the Muslim-majority region bordering Malaysia battle for greater autonomy.
Several bombs exploded within a 40-minute period after midnight on Sunday, igniting 11 petrol stations across Thailand’s southernmost provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala, an army statement said.
Authorities did not announce any arrests or say who may be behind the attacks.
“It happened almost at the same time. A group of an unknown number of men came and detonated bombs which damaged fuel pumps,” Narathiwat Governor Boonchauy Homyamyen told local media, adding that one police officer was injured in the province.
A firefighter and two petrol station employees were injured in Pattani province, the army said.
All four were admitted to hospitals, none with serious injuries, a Thai army spokesman told AFP.
Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters that security agencies believed the attacks were a “signal” timed with elections for local administrators taking place on Sunday, and “not aimed at insurgency.”
The army’s commander in the south, Narathip Phoynok, told reporters he ordered security measures raised to the “maximum level in all areas” including at road checkpoints and borders.
The nation’s deep south is culturally distinct from the rest of Buddhist-majority Thailand, which took control of the region more than a century ago.
The area is heavily policed by Thai security forces — the usual targets of insurgent attacks.