Two Terrible Cases

By Holli Haerr

In court today in Riverhead, 16-year-old Christopher Overton stood before a judge. He is now accused in connection with two terrible and deadly crimes on Long Island.

This past weekend, he was arrested along with six other students from Patchogue-Medford High School and charged with gang assault. Police say the group was involved in a hate crime - the stabbing and beating death of an immigrant at the Patchogue train station. Another teen (not Overton) was charged with the stabbing.

In 2007, Overton was involved in a deadly home invasion in East Patchogue. You may remember the story, the victim, Carlton Shaw, tried to confront burglars at his house and was shot. His body was found, with his three-year-old son lying on top of it, asleep.

Another teen was convicted of shooting Shaw in that case. Overton pled guilty to burglary and was waiting to be sentenced. In his plea deal, he could have avoided jailtime. But that deal may now be changed or thrown out.

In court in Riverhead today, the prosecutor said Overton violated terms of the deal because he was out past curfew and he's been charged in another crime.

Overton's lawyer says the teen was not involved in this weekend's deadly attack. He'd been hanging out with some of the teens earlier, but left before it happened. His friends who came to court said there's no way Overton would be involved in a hate crime.

After court, we visited Shaw's fiancee from that 2007 case. She spoke very little English but her message was clear. She said she was surprised to find out that someone could be involved in both crimes, and she's hoping for justice in both.

She also said that her son still looks for his father, more than a year after his murder.

Comments

[SUSAN L.RUDNICK]

WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THE FAMILY OF THE VICTIMS?:AND THERE ARE MORE THAN ONE;THE FIANCE.,THE CHILD,THE PARENTS & FUTURE INLAWS.NEICES, COUSINS ,AUNTS & UNCLES WHO WILL NEVER SIT DOWN TO A FAMILY THANKSGIVING TABLE TOGETHER-EVER!.AND;WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THE PARENTS OF THE ACCUSSED?;IF WE DONT START PAYING ATTENTION TO THIS GENERATION OF YOUNG MEN & WOMEN WHO FEED ON HATE WE WILL BE A LOST SOCIETY.S.L.R.

[Allen]

This is really a sad story. Most importantly two people died because of HATE. It is also sad that one person appears to be involved in both these cases. What a waste.

[Gojee]

how sad