MasonBuzz.com

Sheila McLaughlin reports:

Lance Tiernan’s adult conviction and 54-day jail sentence for killing fellow One Way Farm resident Anthony Parker will stand.

Butler County Juvenile Judge Ronald Craft washed his hands of the case Monday, saying transferring the case to juvenile court wouldn’t serve public safety nor would it give him any control over Tiernan if he violated probation.

Tiernan, who was released from the Butler County Jail on Oct. 13 left the courthouse with his guardians – his former teacher from Mason High School and her husband, who also is a teacher.

Before Craft made his decision Parker’s grandmother Anita Smith noted that Tiernan had admitted during his trial in adult court that he meant to hurt Parker when he beat him and slammed him to the ground on his head on Dec. 19 at the Fairfield Township group home.

“Anybody his age could look at how much smaller (Anthony) was. Anthony was not a fighter. He would not get in anyone else’s face. He would not start a fight,” Smith said. “It was not the nature of who he was when he was alive.”

Jessica Krohn, Tiernan’s former teacher, spoke on Tiernan’s behalf, saying he understood what he did and was devastated and remorseful.

The couple took him in when he was released from jail because Tiernan had nowhere else to go. Warren County Children Services had placed him at One Way Farm because he had run away from home and no one in his family would take him in.

“The Lance I know is not the Lance I see in the media. The Lance I know is smart and funny and he’s kind,” Krohn said. “I know he’s overcome a lot. I know how much potential he has. I just want to see him have a chance in a stable home.”

Krohn said she was meeting with officials at Milford High School Monday afternoon to try to get Tiernan enrolled there.

(more…)

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: anthony parker, charlie m. rittgers, frank smith, involuntary manslaughter, jail, lance tiernan, mason, mason high school, murder, one way farm, sentencing, trial

More than 600 marijuana plants valued at $5,000 with a street value of $3 million were seized in the investigation.

Paul McKibben and Michael D. Clark report:

The former Mason High School student involved in a potential $3 million marijuana ring is expected to be sentenced this morning in Warren County Juvenile Court.

In July, then 17-year-old Tyler Pagenstecher pleaded guilty to one fourth degree felony count of trafficking in drugs.

Pagenstecher is no longer attending Mason High School and won’t be attending the school in the future, according to the Tracey Carson, spokeswoman for the Mason City School District. She said via email the case has not resulted in any policy changes, noting the district’s policies “address student drug use and possession effectively.”

“Our hope and expectation is that Mason City Schools will continue to do all we can to keep our schools and students safe from the dangers of drug use,” she said.

Pagenstecher turned 18 on Oct 7. He was not charged as an adult.

The Warren County Drug Task Force uncovered the ring who officials say grew high-grade hydroponic marijuana from a Blue Ash furniture warehouse and houses in Norwood and Hamilton.

A Warren County grand jury indicted seven adults in the case. Authorities seized more than 600 marijuana plants valued at $5,000 with a $3 million street value.

Pagenstecher was the primary source of marijuana for students in the Mason district and a significant source of the drug at the Kings Local School District.

Authorities found $6,000 in Pagenstecher’s bedroom while executing a search warrant. They say the teen dealt about $20,000 of marijuana per month but he never sold on school property.

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: busted, crime, drug trafficking, drugs, guilty, kings, marijuana, mason, mason high school, mason schools, police, pot, ring, sentencing, tracey carson, tyler pagenstecher, warren county drug task force, warren county juvenile court

Lance Tiernan, 18, is seen here on Feb. 9, 2012 in Butler County Juvenile Court in Hamilton. Tiernan, a former Mason High School student,was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the beating death of 16-year-old Anthony Parker at One Way Farm last December. The Enquirer/ Tony Jones

Sheila McLaughlin reports:

Convicted killer Lance Tiernan will be cut loose from jail Saturday because he’s served his 54 days, a Butler County judge said Monday.

Judge Patricia Oney, of common pleas court, said the only way Tiernan would remain incarcerated is if juvenile authorities want to hold him in jail until a sentencing hearing in that court on Oct. 22.

Defense attorney Charlie M. Rittgers said he doubts that will happen because the former Mason High School student will be on intensive probation and will be heavily supervised between the time he is released and when he appears for the juvenile court hearing.

Tiernan, 18, was tried as an adult for murder and faced life in prison in the December beating death of fellow resident Anthony Parker at the One Way Farm group home in Fairfield Township. Tiernan was 17 at the time of the offense.

A jury found Tiernan guilty of a less serious felony charge of involuntary manslaughter, which carries a maximum prison sentence of three years in prison.

Oney sentenced Tiernan to 54 days in jail and five years of probation.

However, Ohio’s Serious Youthful Offender law requires the case to be sent back to Butler County Juvenile Court so a judge there can decide whether to sentence Tiernan as a juvenile offender or allow the adult sentence to stand.

That’s what will happen on Oct. 22 before Judge Ronald Craft.

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: anthony parker, butler county common pleas court, fairfield township, involuntary manslaughter, judge patricia oney, lance tiernan, mason, mason high school, murder, one way farm, sentencing, trial

Anthony Parker’s adoptive grandmother, Anita Smith, holds a collage of photographs of Parker through the years. Parker, 16, was beaten to death by fellow One Way Farm group home resident Lance Tiernan on Dec. 19. / Sheila McLaughlin/The Enquirer

Sheila McLaughlin reports:

How can you kill someone and get only 54 days in jail?

A rarely used Ohio law for violent juvenile offenders makes that possible for 18-year-old Lance Tiernan.

Tiernan could even be out of jail before he finds out his final sentence for killing fellow resident Anthony Parker at the One Way Farm teen group home last December.  He was a student at Mason High School before being arrested.

• Mason teachers testify in trial of teen accused of murder

A Butler County Common Pleas Judge set Tiernan’s release date as Oct. 13.

His lawyer, prosecutors and Judge Patricia Oney will pow-wow Oct. 8 to decide if that date sticks or if Tiernan can be freed on a recognizance bond until at least Oct. 22. That’s when a juvenile judge has scheduled a hearing to determine whether Tiernan will be subject to sentencing as a juvenile or face an adult sentence and conviction that will follow him for the rest of his life.

It’s yet another chapter in an already-complicated case involving Ohio’s Serious Youthful Offender law.

The case that keeps ping-ponging between courts has Parker’s relatives wondering how it will ever end.

Either way, justice won’t be served, said Parker’s adoptive grandmother Anita Smith of West Chester Township. Either way, it won’t bring her grandson back.

(more…)

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Tags: Tags: anthony parker, charlie m. rittgers, frank smith, involuntary manslaughter, jail, lance tiernan, mason, mason high school, murder, one way farm, sentencing, trial

More than 600 marijuana plants valued at $5,000 with a street value of $3 million were seized in the investigation.

The Associated Press

Sentencing has been delayed for a 17-year-old Mason High School student who authorities called one of the most prolific drug dealers in the Cincinnati area.

Warren County Juvenile Court Judge Mike Powell rescheduled Tuesday’s sentencing of Tyler Pagenstecher of Mason to Oct. 22. The teen is accused of taking part in $3 million marijuana ring.

The move came at the request of Pagenstecher’s attorney. He told the judge that the teen was doing well in an “intensive” substance abuse program that ends Oct. 11, and he wanted him to continue the treatment uninterrupted.

Pagenstecher has pleaded guilty to drug-trafficking charges and faces imprisonment in a juvenile jail until he turns 21.

Authorities say he played a major role in a drug ring that sold as much as $20,000 worth of high-grade marijuana a month to fellow high school students in and around Mason.

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: busted, crime, delayed, drug trafficking, drugs, kings, marijuana, mason, mason high school, mason schools, mike powell, police, pot, ring, sentencing, tyler pagenstecher, warren county drug task force, warren county juvenile court

Anthony Parker’s adoptive grandmother, Anita Smith, holds a collage of photographs of Parker through the years. Parker, 16, was beaten to death by fellow One Way Farm group home resident Lance Tiernan on Dec. 19. / Sheila McLaughlin/The Enquirer

Sheila McLaughlin reports:

The man who considered himself Anthony Parker’s father burst from a Butler County courtroom Monday screaming “Oh my God. He murdered my son” after a judge gave the boy’s killer 54 days in jail, probation and community service.

“I will never forgive Mr. Tiernan. I will hate him for the rest of my life,” Frank Smith said before Judge Patricia Oney sentenced Lance Tiernan on a charge of involuntary manslaughter.

Smith, who never returned to the courtroom, has two teenage daughters with Parker’s mother from a previous relationship.

Jurors found Tiernan not guilty of murder in July, but they did convicted him of involuntary manslaughter in the Dec. 19 beating death of Parker, 16, at One Way Farm in Fairfield Township.

Tiernan was charged as an adult with murder but since the jury tossed that charge, the case will revert to the juvenile system for a second sentencing hearing on involuntary manslaughter.

By law, Tiernan’s case was automatically bound over to adult court because of his age – 17 at the time of the offense – and the seriousness of the charge. The case automatically is sent back to juvenile court for a sentencing hearing because Tiernan was not convicted of the murder charge.

Defense attorney Charles M. Rittgers said a Butler County juvenile judge will review the adult court’s sentence and is supposed to mirror it.

Tiernan could be held in a juvenile prison until he’s 21, but that’s unlikely, Rittgers said. As an adult he faced up to three years in prison. He has been in jail for 246 days awaiting trial.

Being sentenced as a juvenile means the conviction won’t follow him as an adult when he applies for jobs or college, Rittgers said.

The hearing in juvenile court has not been set.

Beside the 54-day jail sentence, Oney ordered Tiernan to spend one year on intensive probation and to be monitored for drug and alcohol use for four years. He will have to perform 500 hours of community service and either get his GED or finish high school. Tiernan was a student at Mason High School before being arrested.

(more…)

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: anthony parker, charlie m. rittgers, frank smith, involuntary manslaughter, jail, lance tiernan, mason, mason high school, murder, one way farm, sentencing, trial

Lance Tiernan, 18, is seen here on Feb. 9, 2012 in Butler County Juvenile Court in Hamilton. Tiernan, a former Mason High School student,was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the beating death of 16-year-old Anthony Parker at One Way Farm last December. The Enquirer/ Tony Jones

A former Mason teen convicted of beating another teen to death in a group home for children last year will be sentenced today in Butler County Common Pleas Court.

Lance Tiernan, who turned 18 in May, is scheduled to go before Judge Patricia Oney at 8:30 a.m., court records show.

A jury found Tiernan not guilty of murder earlier this summer, but they did convicted him of involuntary manslaughter in the Dec. 19 beating death of Anthony Parker, 16, at One Way Farm in Fairfield Township.

Tiernan was charged as an adult with murder but now that the jury tossed that, the case could revert to the juvenile system, where he now could be sentenced to a maximum of three years.

Tiernan previously attended Mason High School while living with relatives.  Three Mason high School educators testified during the trial and described Tiernan as respectful, kind, shy and a good student who worked hard.

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: anthony parker, butler county common pleas court, fairfield township, involuntary manslaughter, judge patricia oney, lance tiernan, mason, mason high school, murder, one way farm, sentencing, trial