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From the Pensacola News Journal (http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/news/070703/Local/ST001.shtml):
PUBLISHED MONDAY, JULY 7, 2003
Teens' fight ends in girl's death
Suspect accused of slashing friend's throat
Brett Norman
@PensacolaNewsJournal.com
Pensacola police investigators charged a Warrington Middle School pupil with an open count of murder in the Saturday night killing of 15-year-old Ashley Harvey, who bled to death when her throat was cut with a butcher knife.
Numerous witnesses saw the killing escalate from a neighborhood firecracker battle into the fatal confrontation a few hours later under a streetlight at the intersection of Q and Belmont streets.
They identified Christine Rogers as the attacker, police said.
The 13-year-old suspect was arrested shortly after the 10:10 p.m. stabbing, when she calmly walked back to the scene from her Q Street home around the corner, dressed in a fresh change of clothes, witnesses said.
Christine remained Sunday in the Department of Juvenile Justice Escambia Regional Detention Center.
Residents of the West Pensacola neighborhood are trying to come to terms with how a juvenile scrape over fireworks could end in death.
"It doesn't make any sense," said Bessie Johnson, who witnessed the slaying. "It's just sad that as young as Ashley was, as young as the other child is, that two lives are over over nothing."
Ashley's death marks the third Escambia County homicide in less than two years involving suspects under 16, and the case promises to raise again the issue of whether juveniles accused of violent crimes should be prosecuted as adults.
Assistant State Attorney David Rimmer prosecuted Alex and Derek King, then 12 and 13, as adults in the November 2001 murder of their father. He is doing the same with Daniel Carter, who was 15 when he was charged in the July 2002 killing of his uncle.
Rimmer said Sunday he will present evidence against Christine for a first-degree murder indictment to a grand .
"I don't see any reason right now to treat it any differently than the King and Carter cases," Rimmer said. "I'll be getting the hateful e-mail stuff again, I'm sure, but I'm used to it by now."
What happened
Neighbors said until the fight broke out, Saturday had been a typical July 5th.
The neighborhood was crawling with children who were playing with leftover fireworks from Independence Day celebrations.
Trouble began a few hours before the killing, when the two girls - longtime neighborhood friends and occasional foes - were throwing lighted firecrackers at one another.
Christine and Ashley argued, but the acrimony subsided until just after 10 p.m., when Christine learned her 24-year-old sister was about to fight over the earlier incident, police said.
Christine walked the half-block from her home to investigate, then returned to her house and emerged with a big butcher knife, witnesses said.
Johnson, who lives in a duplex on the corner where the killing occurred, was trying to cool escalating tempers when she glimpsed the blade. She heard Christine say she was going to kill Ashley.
"I said, `Ashley, run! She's got a knife,' " Johnson said.
Ashley tried to flee, zig-zagging across the front yard and into Belmont Street, but when she realized she could not get away, she turned around to defend herself, witnesses said.
"That's when (Christine) cut her throat," said Johnson, starting to cry. "Ashley grabbed her neck; she was spitting up blood. That girl just stood and watched her when she fell."
Neighbors tried to stop the bleeding with a beach towel, which was saturated quickly with blood.
Shannon Smith, who has lived in the neighborhood for 18 years, said he came out of his Belmont Street home when the police cars rushed by.
He said a group of about 20 had gathered around Ashley.
A nurse who was visiting one of the neighbors cut open Ashley's blouse and attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
"She died there on the street," Smith said. "They never got her back."
Ashley was taken to Baptist Hospital and pronounced dead.
Her mother, Sue Harvey, was at a comedy show in a local club, a rare night out for a woman who works six days a week at a Pensacola Beach hotel, Johnson said. A relative found her there and delivered the news.
"She's such a hard worker," Johnson said. "I can't imagine finding out like that."
No one answered the door at Christine's Q Street home Sunday afternoon. Ashley's mother could not be reached for comment.
'It's just sad'
The impact of the killing on the neighborhood is multiplied by the knowledge that Christine and Ashley had been friends since they were young.
"I've been watching them out here for years, and they were just average kids," Smith said. "I had to get on them when they got after the dogs, but nothing major."
Said Johnson: "Friday night they were sitting and laughing on the front porch here."
Ashley, who friends say just finished her freshman year at Pensacola High School, loved to dance and baby-sat often. She was the person many women in the neighborhood turned to to have their hair styled.
"She was a good person. She was the silly type - she liked to laugh," said Laporsha Bradley, 13, Ashley's friend and next-door neighbor.
Some residents commented that a similar fight during their childhood never would have gotten so violent.
"They were doing something I've done - we've all done," said Smith, 47, referring to the fireworks battle. "But back then you might get a fat lip or a black eye," he said. "Now, the kids will get out a knife or a gun, and they'll use it."
Smith said it is not unusual for police to break up a fight or some other mischief in the neighborhood, but no one's ever been shot or stabbed.
"It's just sad that something so simple had to turn out so violent," he said.
Jeff Garthwaite, the principal of Warrington Middle School, said Christine had a couple of visits to the dean's office, but he was not aware of any unusual behavior problems.
"It's one of those situations where we all seem kind of shocked when this happens, but these kids are so desensitized by violence and these horrific acts that they see and hear all the time," he said. "That combined with so many children that just don't have the anger management and the coping skills they need makes for an explosive situation."
Recent teenage suspects
If a grand jury indicts 13-year- old Christine Rogers for murder, she will become the fourth Escambia County defendant younger than 16 in less than two years to face trial as an adult on homicide charges, Assistant State Attorney David Rimmer said.
Daniel Carter was 15 when he was charged with killing his uncle July 16, 2002. Jack Carter died of knife wounds from a fight with Daniel, who has maintained from the beginning that he was defending himself. Daniel's attorney, James Stokes, died in a plane crash last month. The trial has been delayed while Daniel finds new representation. He remains in a special housing section of the Escambia County Jail.
Brothers Derek and Alex King pleaded guilty last November to beating their sleeping father, Terry, to death with a baseball bat on the night of Nov. 26, 2001, in their Cantonment home.
At the time of the murder Derek was 13 and Alex was 12.
As a result of their plea agreement, Derek was sentenced to eight years incarceration, and Alex was sentenced to seven years. The Florida Department of Corrections later decided the brothers would serve their time in a juvenile facility.
PUBLISHED MONDAY, JULY 7, 2003
Teens' fight ends in girl's death
Suspect accused of slashing friend's throat
Brett Norman
@PensacolaNewsJournal.com
Pensacola police investigators charged a Warrington Middle School pupil with an open count of murder in the Saturday night killing of 15-year-old Ashley Harvey, who bled to death when her throat was cut with a butcher knife.
Numerous witnesses saw the killing escalate from a neighborhood firecracker battle into the fatal confrontation a few hours later under a streetlight at the intersection of Q and Belmont streets.
They identified Christine Rogers as the attacker, police said.
The 13-year-old suspect was arrested shortly after the 10:10 p.m. stabbing, when she calmly walked back to the scene from her Q Street home around the corner, dressed in a fresh change of clothes, witnesses said.
Christine remained Sunday in the Department of Juvenile Justice Escambia Regional Detention Center.
Residents of the West Pensacola neighborhood are trying to come to terms with how a juvenile scrape over fireworks could end in death.
"It doesn't make any sense," said Bessie Johnson, who witnessed the slaying. "It's just sad that as young as Ashley was, as young as the other child is, that two lives are over over nothing."
Ashley's death marks the third Escambia County homicide in less than two years involving suspects under 16, and the case promises to raise again the issue of whether juveniles accused of violent crimes should be prosecuted as adults.
Assistant State Attorney David Rimmer prosecuted Alex and Derek King, then 12 and 13, as adults in the November 2001 murder of their father. He is doing the same with Daniel Carter, who was 15 when he was charged in the July 2002 killing of his uncle.
Rimmer said Sunday he will present evidence against Christine for a first-degree murder indictment to a grand .
"I don't see any reason right now to treat it any differently than the King and Carter cases," Rimmer said. "I'll be getting the hateful e-mail stuff again, I'm sure, but I'm used to it by now."
What happened
Neighbors said until the fight broke out, Saturday had been a typical July 5th.
The neighborhood was crawling with children who were playing with leftover fireworks from Independence Day celebrations.
Trouble began a few hours before the killing, when the two girls - longtime neighborhood friends and occasional foes - were throwing lighted firecrackers at one another.
Christine and Ashley argued, but the acrimony subsided until just after 10 p.m., when Christine learned her 24-year-old sister was about to fight over the earlier incident, police said.
Christine walked the half-block from her home to investigate, then returned to her house and emerged with a big butcher knife, witnesses said.
Johnson, who lives in a duplex on the corner where the killing occurred, was trying to cool escalating tempers when she glimpsed the blade. She heard Christine say she was going to kill Ashley.
"I said, `Ashley, run! She's got a knife,' " Johnson said.
Ashley tried to flee, zig-zagging across the front yard and into Belmont Street, but when she realized she could not get away, she turned around to defend herself, witnesses said.
"That's when (Christine) cut her throat," said Johnson, starting to cry. "Ashley grabbed her neck; she was spitting up blood. That girl just stood and watched her when she fell."
Neighbors tried to stop the bleeding with a beach towel, which was saturated quickly with blood.
Shannon Smith, who has lived in the neighborhood for 18 years, said he came out of his Belmont Street home when the police cars rushed by.
He said a group of about 20 had gathered around Ashley.
A nurse who was visiting one of the neighbors cut open Ashley's blouse and attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
"She died there on the street," Smith said. "They never got her back."
Ashley was taken to Baptist Hospital and pronounced dead.
Her mother, Sue Harvey, was at a comedy show in a local club, a rare night out for a woman who works six days a week at a Pensacola Beach hotel, Johnson said. A relative found her there and delivered the news.
"She's such a hard worker," Johnson said. "I can't imagine finding out like that."
No one answered the door at Christine's Q Street home Sunday afternoon. Ashley's mother could not be reached for comment.
'It's just sad'
The impact of the killing on the neighborhood is multiplied by the knowledge that Christine and Ashley had been friends since they were young.
"I've been watching them out here for years, and they were just average kids," Smith said. "I had to get on them when they got after the dogs, but nothing major."
Said Johnson: "Friday night they were sitting and laughing on the front porch here."
Ashley, who friends say just finished her freshman year at Pensacola High School, loved to dance and baby-sat often. She was the person many women in the neighborhood turned to to have their hair styled.
"She was a good person. She was the silly type - she liked to laugh," said Laporsha Bradley, 13, Ashley's friend and next-door neighbor.
Some residents commented that a similar fight during their childhood never would have gotten so violent.
"They were doing something I've done - we've all done," said Smith, 47, referring to the fireworks battle. "But back then you might get a fat lip or a black eye," he said. "Now, the kids will get out a knife or a gun, and they'll use it."
Smith said it is not unusual for police to break up a fight or some other mischief in the neighborhood, but no one's ever been shot or stabbed.
"It's just sad that something so simple had to turn out so violent," he said.
Jeff Garthwaite, the principal of Warrington Middle School, said Christine had a couple of visits to the dean's office, but he was not aware of any unusual behavior problems.
"It's one of those situations where we all seem kind of shocked when this happens, but these kids are so desensitized by violence and these horrific acts that they see and hear all the time," he said. "That combined with so many children that just don't have the anger management and the coping skills they need makes for an explosive situation."
Recent teenage suspects
If a grand jury indicts 13-year- old Christine Rogers for murder, she will become the fourth Escambia County defendant younger than 16 in less than two years to face trial as an adult on homicide charges, Assistant State Attorney David Rimmer said.
Daniel Carter was 15 when he was charged with killing his uncle July 16, 2002. Jack Carter died of knife wounds from a fight with Daniel, who has maintained from the beginning that he was defending himself. Daniel's attorney, James Stokes, died in a plane crash last month. The trial has been delayed while Daniel finds new representation. He remains in a special housing section of the Escambia County Jail.
Brothers Derek and Alex King pleaded guilty last November to beating their sleeping father, Terry, to death with a baseball bat on the night of Nov. 26, 2001, in their Cantonment home.
At the time of the murder Derek was 13 and Alex was 12.
As a result of their plea agreement, Derek was sentenced to eight years incarceration, and Alex was sentenced to seven years. The Florida Department of Corrections later decided the brothers would serve their time in a juvenile facility.
