U.S. Teens Convicted in German Highway Stonings

D A R M S T A D T, Germany, Dec. 22 -- A German court convicted threeAmerican teenagers of murder today for dropping large chunks ofrock from a highway overpass onto passing vehicles, killing twowomen and injuring four other people.

The three, all sons of U.S. soldiers stationed in Germany, weresentenced to up to 8 ½ years in prison for what their lawyers hadargued was an ill-conceived contest without any intent to killanyone.

“There is no adequate punishment for what we have done,” theeldest defendant told the court in closed session beforesentencing, according to defense lawyer Ulrich Endres.

The defendants, ages 14, 17 and 18 at the time of the Feb. 27 attacks,were tried as juveniles.

Prosecutors had demanded the maximum 10 years on murderconvictions for minors.

Lawyers for the teenagers had argued for a conviction on alesser charge of negligent homicide, and said they planned toappeal. The court did not adequately take into account the youths’state of mind, attorney Hans Georg Kaschel said, quoting apsychiatric expert who testified to their “temporary disregard ofreality.”

Stones as Big as Breadboxes

Judge Bertram Schmitt said the teens acted out of boredom andthat they sought progressively larger stones after failing at firstto hit any vehicles, using the approaching headlights as targets inthe darkness.

“They didn’t set out to kill people but there was a qualifiedintent,” the judge said. “The defendants had recognized thepossibility that people could die.”

Ultimately, the deadly stones were as big as breadboxes,Schmitt said, so heavy at 18 pounds that one youth had to hand themup to the other two, perched on top of a barrier along a pedestrianwalkway near the housing of the U.S. Army base here.

“They kept raising the level of risk until the people in thecars had no chance,” Schmitt said. “It’s like a game of Russianroulette except they were not putting their lives at risk, butthose of people unknown to them.”