[chris]

Lacy Aaron Schmidt, 14, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for fatally shooting 14-year-old Alana May Calahan in Harlem, Georgia, on January 31, 2011.

Alana was alone in her house for a short time while her sister was away when Schmidt entered, took her father's handgun and shot her in the back of the neck. He dragged her into the woods outside the house, then later joined the search and led Alana's siblings to her body, according to the Supreme Court of Georgia opinion.

Schmidt and Alana were neighbors and friends who had briefly dated before Alana's youth pastor discouraged the relationship. About a week before the shooting, Schmidt had been found in the Calahan home without supervision and was banned from entering unless her parents were present.

Schmidt gave investigators at least five different accounts before saying the shooting was an accident that occurred as he tried to unload the gun. Trial evidence showed the handgun required about 13 pounds of trigger pressure to fire, which the state used to challenge that account. The gun box and ammunition taken from the Calahan home were found at Schmidt's residence, including in his bedroom closet. Alana's house keys were under the floor mats of the Calahan family's pickup, to which Schmidt had access.

At the start of the recorded interview, officers told Schmidt he was not under arrest and had not been charged, and that his sister was at the building. He described a stranger running across the property, then said he had been forced at gunpoint. He later identified another boy as the shooter before giving the accident account.

A Columbia County grand jury indicted Schmidt on March 31, 2011, and he was prosecuted as an adult in Columbia County Superior Court. Tried from February 6 to 9, 2012, he was convicted on all counts: malice murder, felony murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, and theft by taking. On March 2, 2012, he received life without parole for malice murder, a consecutive five years on the firearm count and a concurrent ten years on the theft count. The felony murder verdict was vacated by operation of law.

On appeal, Schmidt argued that the jury should have been instructed on involuntary manslaughter, that his trial lawyer was ineffective, and that life without parole for a 14-year-old violated the Eighth Amendment. On September 14, 2015, the Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed the convictions and sentences in Schmidt v. State, No. S15A1150.

The video is a police interview-room recording that runs about 104 minutes. It presents the interview itself and begins with a short narrated introduction naming the people involved.

[chris]

Part 2 of 2 of the recording described above.

[LuckiiDevil21]

This is what happens when you name a boy Lacey.

[kellyhound]

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