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Kittrell, 17, sentenced to 10 months detentionTue, 01/09/2007 - 4:58pm
By: John Munford
Facing a possible prison sentence, Robin Kittrell, 17, chose his answers carefully as he testified on his own behalf Tuesday afternoon in Fayette Superior Court. Minutes before, during a break in the hearing, Kittrell had shared a humorous moment with two girls who appeared to be his age ... both of whom sat in court to support him. In that moment, dressed in what many consider to be “Sunday best,” Kittrell could have been any other high school senior student. But he wasn’t. In November, Kittrell pled guilty to six counts of possession of a weapon on school property, one count of possession of a concealed weapon and two counts of underage possession of a firearm after he took four guns, a switchblade knife and a ninja sword to Whitewater High on the first day of school last summer. He has been home-schooled since the August 2006 incident resulted in his expulsion. Superior Court Judge Tommy Hankinson conducted Tuesday’s hearing and afterwards sentenced Kittrell to youth boot camp for 90 to 120 days, to be followed by a period in a detention center of between 60 and 180 days. Following his detention, Kittrell must spend a year on intensive probation, followed by nine years of regular probation on the weapons charges. The judge also levied a $750 fine on the teenager. Kittrell‘s guns were unloaded and locked in a case in the trunk of his car along with the sword, officials said. Kittrell admitted to having the weapons in his car. Kittrell also said that he knew having the switchblade on his person inside the school was “inherently illegal” but that too was an accident, as he had become accustomed over the summer to carrying the knife with him to use as a pocketknife. Though Kittrell testified he didn’t intend to bring the guns to campus, two school officials testified that Kittrell told them he wanted the weapons handy in case of a Columbine-style school attack, so he could defend students and staff until authorities could show up on the scene. District Attorney Scott Ballard asked Kittrell if he thought he was “above the law.” “I fear I may have at the time,” Kittrell replied meekly. Kittrell said he put the gun case in the trunk of his car for a trip he planned to take just before school started. “But I ended up not going and I forgot the gun case was in there,” Kittrell said. He later admitted that his parents were unaware that the guns, normally kept in the family’s gun safe, were in his car. When asked why, Kittrell said: “I did not see fit to tell them.” Ballard asked Kittrell how he could have forgotten about the location of the gun case when he got dressed in the morning, putting the gun case key in one of his boots along with a house key and car key. Kittrell replied that those keys were spares, so he didn’t think twice about them. Speaking directly to Superior Court Judge Tommy Hankinson, Kittrell said he learned from his mistake. Leading up to Tuesday’s hearing, Kittrell has been on house arrest, wearing an monitoring bracelet to track his location. Prior to being released on house arrest, Kittrell spent just over two months in jail. Kittrell’s attorney Lee Sexton was seeking a probated sentence for Kittrell, meaning no more jail time. Prior to Kittrell’s testimony, both Whitewater Principal Greg Stillions and School Resource Officer Jason Tutterow testified that Kittrell told them the guns were in his car so he could help assist if the school were ever attacked in a Columbine-style incident. Kittrell said he doesn’t remember the conversation occurring like that, but, “I will admit that I do not have a clear memory of those events in August.” Tutterow testified that in a search warrant executed on Kittrell’s home, all of the shirts in the youth’s closet were black or dark blue. Kittrell disputed that, saying he also owned some white tuxedo shirts. “That was a blatant lie,” Kittrell said, the tone of his calm voice raising only slightly. Questioned further, Kittrell explained, “I think he saw what he was looking for.” Kittrell said that his parents didn’t know that he had purchased the two “speed loaders” which are used to quickly load a revolver. Ballard asked Kittrell several times if he had the sword in his car to hide it from his parents. After hesitating, Kittrell ultimately rolled his eyes and replied, “Yes.” Tutterow testified that among the items found in Kittrell’s car were ammunition for the two handguns and two rifles in the case. Some of the ammunition was loaded into clips; the remainder was boxed, he said. Also found in the car were a hood that could be used to disguise a person’s face, a black “military style” shirt, “military style” pants and binoculars, among other items, Tutterow said. Tutterow and Stillions agreed that Kittrell had never been in trouble in school before and Stillions noted that even after Kittrell’s arrest, no one came to him with allegations that Kittrell had threatened to harm them. Tutterow said Kittrell was fully cooperative with the investigation. Stillions said in his interactions with Kittrell, the student would end their conversation by saluting him and then turning a full 180-degrees before walking away. “It was very precise. Very military,” Stillions observed. Kittrell said he carried the knife with him to school about 16 times in the weeks leading up to school when he attended Whitewater’s band camp. Stillions said he decided to wait until the first day of school to act on the anonymous tip that Kittrell was bringing weapons onto school campus. Stillions defended his decision not to contact Kittrell’s parents about the allegation. He said he didn’t want to contact parents until he knew he had “an issue.” “Any anonymous tip may be correct, or it may not be,” Stillions said. Although Kittrell wasn’t searched until the first period on that first day of school, Stillions said that decision was made so the matter wouldn’t disturb other students. login to post comments
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