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tv   Second Look  FOX  September 7, 2014 11:00pm-11:31pm PDT

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when outstanding high school football player terrance kelly is shot and killed his team, family and community are devastated. >> you two one of the best people i know. you killed my cousin, man you killed a star. you killed the next somebody. >> reporter: a teenage boy is arrested and charged as an adult with first degree murder. >> he was only 15 years old. you know it's not like he was grown. >> reporter: a heartbroken father reaches out to others. >> we have to do something to
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save these kids. form programs, form togetherness. bring back that village that we lost. up next on a second look. good evening and welcome to a second look. i'm julie haener. he was a rising star from a tough neighborhood who by 18 was considered by many as the number one player on the number one high school football team in the country. but just two days before terrance kelly was supposed to leave for the university of oregon on a full scholarship he was shot and killed while waiting to pick up his younger brother in richmond. kelly's story is now being told on the big screen. when the game stands tall opened last month, it tells the story of tele's death and the shock waves it send through concord's de lasalle's high school. as fred inglis reports back in 2003 it was a team with an extraordinary winning record with kelly as its super star. >> delasalle still the nation's
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top ranked high school football team since 2001. but kreutics from all parts of the country still -- but critics from all parts of the country still say that they don't play any big opponents. well how do you like it now. kicked the field goal marks the first time's delasalle has been behind all year. but there comes spartans. kelly scored twice tonight. spartans win 23-10 and guess what it wasn't that close. so the spartans all time football player one streak now 145 and counting. >> it was the biggest game of the year. my biggest game of the year. i've never been on a game as big as this. it was on espn. biggest game of the year. people from all over were watching. >> terrance kelly was a power house on the field and colleges took note. his future held a world of possibility and promise. but then came the stunning and heartbreaking news of his death. we have two reports from 2004
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beginning with ktvu's john sasaki. >> reporter: the upbeat music played by the delasalle band masked the sadness on campus. >> he was an amazing guy. i'm going to miss him. >> reporter: the football team was hit especially hard by the death of terrance kelly. >> people that knew him well and all the kids and teachers here knew that he was a real gentle, good gentleman. and he was just a wonderful kid. he had a great smile, a great laugh. >> reporter: kelly was shot and killed at about 10:40 last night on the 300 block of southern street in his hometown of richmond. his family cannot understand why he was targeted. >> it's not just about a shooting, you killed one of the best people i know. you killed my cousin, you killed, man you killed a star. you killed the next somebody. >> you killed a role model. role models that our kids grew
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up looking up to. my son used to get up and see terrance on the tv and he would say there goes the, k. kelly, kelly. it hurts me to see it come down to this. >> reporter: richmond police said he had stopped on seventh street to pick up his brother. >> he was within a minute that he had gotten there. he was on the cell phone saying i'm here. it's the information i've been told. and when his brother did come out, he found, he found the victim in the street. >> reporter: investigators say they found a gun near by and that witnesses saw several people running from the scene. that's terrance kelly wearing the number 28. he was a star on offense and defense for the spartans. kelly was team mvp last season and was going to be the first person in his family to go to college. he was headed for the university of oregon on a full ride football scholarship and he was scheduled to leave tomorrow. the university of oregon held a
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news conference today. >> it's just terrible any time. burying a child is probably the worse thing you can do. >> reporter: kelly's grandmother is in the hospital now after having suffered a mild heart attack when she learned he was killed. >> he's a legend. legends never die. >> this is hard, man. i-- i'm just getting the strength to everyone talk about it. >> reporter: today at a sidewalk memorial near the scene of the shooting one of kelly's former teammates recalled happier times he shared with kelly on the football field at delasalle. aaron bradley says he was stunned when a friend called him with news of the killing. >> i was just like, tell me it ain't true. and he told me it was true and something, something this tragic, i mean this is a sad loss. because that was like my, that was my boy for real. >> reporter: the shooting happened in the iron triangle, one of richmond's most crime
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ridden neighborhoods. they believe jealousy may have played a role. >> on the day that terrance kelly should have been suiting up for his first fall football practice with the university of oregon, his family and friends made their way to a richmond church for his funeral. ktvu's maureen jaramillo reported in august 2004. >> reporter: almost 2,000 people packed the hilltop community church to honor kelly. family, friends and more than 60 former delasalle football teammates all dressed in their green jerseys and black arm bands in honor of kelly. >> i have heard terrance described as a gentle giant and that he was. >> reporter: those who knew kelly said he had dreams of playing college and professional football and worked hard to make it. kelly's determination was evident in a letter he wrote. >> this is a statement that terrance himself wrote, to enter the university of oregon. while growing up in richmond california, there has been a
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lot of distractions for example the murder rate of young african americans in this city is very high. drugs are rampant in the community, many people placed more importance on being in a gang than in education, a large number of the youth don't even graduate from high school. they either drop out, go to jail, or unfortunately get murdered. i am determined not to end up like so many of my peers. >> ♪ >> reporter: so today as they layed him to rest, kelly's family and friends also vowed to go to work. to stop the violence in richmond, to help young people fulfill their dreams, to make sure terrance kelly did not die in vein. still to come on a second
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look. >> please turn yourself in to the nearest police station dear, please, love you. the parents of the killer of terrance kelly call for him to surrounder. >> teens that commit murders alone are getting younger and younger and younger. >> and the debate of trying children as adults.
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welcome back to a second look. shortly after terry's death, police turned their sights on two brothers. as rita williams reported, after the boys parents urged darren pratchert to surrender he turned himself in. >> we saw him coming and the
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daddy hugged him. and he stood right there. got in the backseat. >> reporter: pastor charles hopkins said he and the father of suspect darren pratchert met the boy at a gas station here in richmond after 6:00 last night. >> he shed tears. you know, in rout there. he was just, just not an easy thing to do. he's only 15 years old. it's not like he was grown up and had done much of anything. made his way to callus crime. he was a regular kid. you look at him he was a regular child. >> reporter: pratchert called his grandmother's house on a cell phone after this televised appeal from his parents. >> please turn yourself in to the nearest police station dear, please, love you. >> reporter: the pastor said until last night he had never met darren pratchert or his
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older brother larry. but that a member of his church asked him for help. >> she informed me that her family was involved in the killing in richmond. >> reporter: there was no confirmation from police on a motive for the killing. >> both families, the suspects families and the victim's families. no one wins in a situation like this when a life has been taken. >> reporter: following the arrest of 15-year-old darren pratcher, the older pratcher brother was released. john sasaki filed this report in july of 2004. >> there's no evidence to link my client to this case, to this crime, to these charges. >> reporter: larry pratcher wouldn't say anything in front of microphones but his father did express great relief. >> i'm just happy my son is coming home with me today. thanks. >> how tough is this thing for
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you and the whole family? >> pretty tough. >> reporter: but the pratcher family still has another son in jail in this case. larry's younger brother 15-year- old darren surrendered yesterday. >> my client is a fine young man. he's never had so much as a parking ticket in his life. he's a high school graduate despite what was reported in the media. there's no acts to grind with anyone, he's looking forward to moving on with his life in a productive and positive fashion. >> reporter: the curb side memorial where 18-year-old terrance kelly died continues to grow. and even the pratcher family with one man in jail and another under a cloud of suspension feels for the family of terry. a child is a child and what crime or behavior changes that fact? none. >> when a juvenile commits a
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crime, should that child be sent to jail for life?
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tonight we're looking back at the killing of 18-year-old football starter answer kel -- football star, terrence kelly. it was up to the district attorney to decide whether the suspect would be try as an adult or a child. if d.a. chose adult court opening the possibility that if convicted the teen could be sent to prison for life. >> reporter: many of the people who live here in richmond are all too familiar with the sights and sounds of crime in their city. richmond has the highest per capita violence rate. >> i've seen it, everybody has seen it it's sad. but the community is used to it. >> kids that commit murders alone, they're getting younger and younger and younger. >> they shouldn't be charged as
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an adult. if you're going to commit an adult crime you should be charged as an adult. >> reporter: the district attorney's office is using their authority to force juvenile suspects into adult court where sentences can be much much longer. california voters changeed the law to allow prosecutors the a direct trial. that is sending juveniles to adult court without asking a judge for permission. last month the d.a. sent the now 17-year-old scott deleski directly into adult court. he is accused of beating and stabbing his neighbor 53-year- old pamela beteli to death. 16-year-old darren pratcher is the youngest suspect to be tried as an adult. pratchert's attorney does not
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believe he should be charged as an adult. >> he was 15 years and 2 months old at the time the homicide occurred. he was in the ninth grade and he was a child. >> reporter: deputy public defender jonathan lava arguing that sentencing juvenile defenders as adults does not recognize that they are immature and don't consider the risks and consequences of their actions. but richmond police say they believe charging kids as adults has helped reduce violent crime by juveniles. >> i see the way crimes used to be committed that juveniles were primarily recruited to do the dirty work, to carry the drugs, to do the crimes. now that is no longer the case. >> reporter: lava says not true. that juvenile crime has been trending down for a decade and he believes there's another problem. lava says in california far more minorities are charged as adults. >> african americans, asian americans and hispanics are
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three to four times as likely to be charged in adult court than our whites. that's certainly a very significant concern. >> it's because they're coming from a particular neighborhood so we're going to try everyone coming out of that neighborhood as an adult. richmond is a case in point. >> i look at it in a noncolor manner. that has been consistent. >> reporter: how does the prosecution decide which teens to charge as adults. contra costa county district attorney dan cabral says there's several criteria. the most important is the severity of the crime. >> it's murder. it's that and of itself the most heinous crime. that is it. we look at a murder and we're going to file that without consideration or concern of what this person's background is. >> the district attorney's office has all but filed four
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of their juvenile murder cases plus two other cases ranging from sexual assault to robbery. as juvenile offenders would have rehabilitation programs available in custody, most juvenile offenders are released at age 25. but in adult courts both faced life in prison. >> the community just does not benefit from having people locked up for these very lengthy periods of time or for the rest of that i have -- rest of their lives for an offense that was committed when they were a child. >> reporter: on the streets of richmond the debate continues. >> a child is a child and what crime or behavior changes that fact? none. >> if they don't get charged as an adult they're getting away with it. >> reporter: and in contra costa county that woman's opinion seems to be the one that's prevailing. maureen jaramillo. when we come back on a second look. >> you take a life, your life needs to be taken.
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>> terrance kelly's father reacts to the decision in his son's case.
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welcome back to a second look as we revisit the killing of rising football star terrence kelly. a judge and jury bring down the sentence. >> i don't feel as bad as the day it happened but one thing i know, justice was prevailed here today. >> landry kelly spoke just minutes after the guilty verdict was read. inside the contra costa county superior courthouse, a judge handed down the maximum sentence to a boy who was 15 years old when he was arrested for murder. the crime happened in august of
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2004 when 18-year-old terrance kelly was shot four times while sitting in a parked car outside a home on seventh street in richmond. he had just graduated from delasalle high school and was a rising football star. here he is number 28 scoring a touchdown. police arrested darren pratchert who had just completed the ninth grade. the district attorney decided to try him as an adult. but last october the jury found pratchert guilty of first degree murder. today the defense attorney pleaed for leniency given the defendant's age. pratchert is now 17. 50 years to life behind bars. hugging outside the courthouse, the victim's father and the
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prosecutor said, justice was served. >> you take a life, your life needs to be taken. because if you were in my shoes you would expect the same result. he acted like a grown man and he killed like a grown man. he's not a child. chronologically age wise he may be a child, but his actions are not of a child. >> reporter: kelly was killed just days before he was supposed to leave. what would have been his university jersey was on display at his funeral. after seeing his son's life cut short, the elder kelly started a foundation in his slain son's name. trying to help troubled youth stay off the streets. >> but i just ask that people in the communities, we have to do something to save these kids. form programs, form togetherness, bring back that village that we lost. >> the shooters mother and father say they will help their
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son appeal the sentence and why they do not in any way con -- condone what he did. they're going to stand behind their son. >> i'm never going to turn my back on him. i'm in prison too. i'll always be there with him. >> reporter: pratchert argued he should not have been tried as an adult and that his sentence is unconstitutional and constitutes cruel and unreasonable punishment. he remains behind bars. he is now 25 years old. the story of terrance kelly's death and the chilling effect it had on the delasalle football team is now the subject of a hollywood film. the movie opened last month and as ktvu's cristina rendon reports, kelly's father was there at the bay area premier. >> reporter: it's a hollywood movie come to life for the delasalle spartans. big crowds gathered in black
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hawk were ticket after ticket were sold for an advanced screening of when the game stands tall. >> i just love delasalle. great school to go to. >> reporter: current players led the premier with a prayer. the film is about the catholic high school and their winning streak. >> they chronicled the 2004 season and they stayed very close to the way it went down and everything that happened. >> reporter: a major part of the story line centered around terrance kelly. the star linebacker and tight end was murdered in richmond two days before he was set to leave to the university of oregon on an athletic scholarship. his father says the premier is bittersweet. >> they really did a good job. i love the way they showed how the story really is. >> producer david zealand wanted to make more than just a football movie but one about brotherhood. >> i found the book when my son
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was playing high school football. i found it when i was cleaning out the locker room. i felt this was a movie i have to make. >> reporter: a movie terry estand never thought would happen. >> we were just laboring in school, keeping our head down and minding our own business. low and behold after so many years somebody thought that this story was worth telling. >> reporter: terrance kelly's father set up a foundation in his son's name. it provides afterschool tutoring, mentoring, and life skills. it states its goals as to help youth realize their full potential. that's it for this week's second look. i'm julie haener, thank you for watching. ♪ ♪ oh, yeah [ male announcer ] discover your new orleans. at followyournola.com.
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