Back in April 2014, 16-year-old Alex Hribal carried out a pre-planned attack at Franklin Regional High School outside of Pittsburgh. Hribal slashed and stabbed 20 students and a security guard, leaving four critically injured. More than three years later, after all the victims have recovered, Hribal pled guilty to “21 counts each of attempted homicide and aggravated assault, plus a weapons charge.”
According to both the defense and the prosecution, Hribal “worshipped” Columbine High School killer Eric Harris — he committed his crime on Harris’ birthday after originally planning to attack his school on the 15th anniversary of the Columbine massacre. Defense attorney Patrick Thomassey had tried to have Hribal declared legally insane and acquitted for that reason. He also tried to reach a plea that allowed Hribal to start his sentence in a mental hospital, but the judge rejected both requests. Citing Hribal’s mental health issues, Thomassey said he would seek as light a sentence as possible.
Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck said he plans to offer the same sentence that was offered in a plea deal months ago: 30 to 60 years, a number he reached after meeting with the victims.
The victims are going to “live with that trauma for a long time, perhaps longer than what Mr. Hribal will serve as a sentence in prison,” Peck said.
Hribal’s maximum possible sentence would be more than 800 years, but Judge Christopher Feliciani is expected to issue something closer to Peck’s suggestion. He’ll do so after conducting a background investigation to determine whether or not there is anything in his personal history that shows Hribal is worthy of leniency or a harsher sentence.
(Via Associated Press)