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Update: Teenage shooting suspect will be tried as juvenile

By Stephanie Rice
Published: April 25, 2011, 12:00am

A Clark County Superior Court judge ruled Monday that a Vancouver teenager will be tried in juvenile court on charges related to a home-invasion shooting.

Senior Deputy Prosecutor Rick Olson had asked that Samuel H. Dunn, 15, be tried as an adult, where a potential sentence could be three times as harsh.

Court-appointed defense attorney Michael Borge argued during Monday’s hearing that his client would be better served in the juvenile system, where he will receive counseling and an education.

Olson argued that the seriousness of the alleged crime — two people were shot Feb. 19 and testified Monday of the resulting physical pain and emotional stress — merited that Dunn be tried as an adult.

Judge Edwin Poyfair said that when he first heard about the shootings, his instinct was, “hang him by his heels.”

But the veteran judge said he gave a lot of weight to the fact that two clinical psychologists and a probation counselor all recommended that Dunn be tried as a juvenile.

Had Dunn been tried and convicted in adult court, he would have faced between 15 and 20 years in prison. He would have been in a juvenile facility until he turned 18 years and six months, then he would have been put in with adult felons, where, Borge argued, he would be easy prey.

In the juvenile system, if convicted, Dunn will remain in a juvenile facility until he turns 21. Then he will be released.

Poyfair heard testimony that Dunn, who has no prior arrest record, has an IQ within the normal range but the social skills and emotional maturity of a 10-to-12 year old. Clinical psychologist Shirley Shen said that when she first interviewed Dunn after his arrest, she noticed he had the markers of Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism. A second psychologist, Kirk Johnson, concurred that Dunn has a developmental disorder.

Olson agreed that Dunn lacks maturity, but said Asperger’s doesn’t drive people to commit crimes.

“Almost everybody knows people with Asperger’s,” and those people don’t go out and shoot people, Olson said.

Olson said it will take Dunn longer to develop a “moral conscience” and that’s a reason to try him as an adult because he’ll receive a longer sentence.

“He’s not going to shoot anyone when he’s locked up,” Olson said.

Probation counselor Bethann Kopf told Poyfair that in recommending Dunn remain in juvenile court, the biggest factor for her was the end result. If Dunn is tried and sentenced as an adult, he’d receive mental health services at first as a juvenile, but then would spend years in an adult prison and whatever gains he made in therapy would be lost by the time he’s released.

“Mr. Dunn will be released one day,” Kopf said, and six years in a juvenile facility would be significant time to receive help.

Poyfair said that the psychologists, in their reports, wrote that Dunn doesn’t see a difference between what happened to him at school (so-called friends “borrowed” money and did not pay him back) and his trying to rob strangers.

Dunn told detectives that he walked by a party on Northeast 38th Street, figured it would be easy to rob people there, went home to get a mask and a gun and then returned to the party, according to court documents.

Dunn, who was arrested Feb. 24 after several people identified him as the suspect, has been in custody at the Clark County Juvenile Justice Center.

Poyfair heard that Dunn has done well in the structured setting and has a lot of support from his mother and his grandparents. His father died when he was 8.

Retired attorney William Dunn, the teen’s paternal grandfather, testified that his grandson was devastated by his father’s death, “but he recovered, as near as we could tell.”

Dunn said he feels his grandson will benefit from treatment offered in the juvenile court system.

“Our hearts go out to the victims of this terrible event. The question is, what are we going to do?” Dunn told Poyfair. “We will do anything that’s suggested, required or prescribed.”

When Poyfair was talking before he announced his decision, he appeared to waffle on the issue. He was troubled that Dunn has since been charged with two unrelated counts of residential burglary, one from Jan. 1 and one from Jan. 24.

Those alleged crimes, like the Feb. 19 incident, occurred in Dunn’s Truman neighborhood.

“I don’t know what the trigger mechanism is in Mr. Dunn,” Poyfair said. “I don’t know if Mr. Dunn knows.”

Poyfair noted that the teenager showed no emotion during the hearing and that when it was his turn to make a statement, he obviously echoed what had been drilled into him by adults, which is that he wants to go through treatment in order to become a better member of society.

“The difference between six years and 15 years is not something I take lightly,” Poyfair said.

Cory Bloom was shot twice, once in his hip and once in his leg. Sarah Godfrey was shot in her left calf, which she said left her with unbearable pain.

“Samuel should be charged as an adult,” Bloom said. “I don’t believe he thought twice about shooting me or my girlfriend.”

Two other people who witnessed the shootings also told Poyfair that Dunn should be tried as an adult.

Poyfair agreed that it would be nice for the victims if Dunn faced a longer sentence. “It would also be nice if crimes like this were never committed,” he said. He said he doesn’t believe Dunn has a clue about what he did and how his decision affected the victims and other people at the party.

That’s either a sign of a cold-bloodedness or significant lack of maturity, the judge said.

Poyfair said he was willing to bet it was a lack of maturity, and he believes Dunn will be better served in the juvenile system.

“This is his opportunity.”

After Poyfair announced his decision, Dunn was formally arraigned. He entered not-guilty pleas to seven charges, five related to the Feb. 19 incident: first-degree burglary, attempted robbery in the first degree, assault in the second degree, assault in the first degree and unlawful possession of a firearm in the second degree. The other two charges were residential burglary for alleged Jan. 1 and Jan. 24 break-ins.

Trial was set for May 25.

Stephanie Rice: 360-735-4508 or stephanie.rice@columbian.com.

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