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Michael Carneal was 14 when he shot a high school classmate in Kentucky in 1997 and is currently on parole.
Carneal killed three Heath High School students and injured five in a December 1997 shooting at a preschool prayer meeting near Paducah, Kentucky. The shooting ended when Karneel lowered his weapon and the principal escorted him to the school office.
Now, his life sentence guarantees an opportunity for parole, so he was guaranteed an opportunity for parole after 25 years.
Carneal, now 39, is scheduled to hold a parole hearing this week.
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One of the victims, Missy Jenkins-Smith, documents the time it took for Carneal to qualify for parole.
“Twenty-five years seemed like a long, long time,” she remembers thinking at the time of his sentencing.
Jenkins-Smith was 15 when she was shot by Carneal, whom she thought was a friend. She remains paralyzed and uses her wheelchair to get around.
“You’ll think, ‘It’s been 10 years. How many more years?'” The 20th anniversary made me think, ‘It’s almost here.'”
She doesn’t believe that Carneal should be free. She is concerned that he can’t handle life outside of prison and that he may harm others, and that it is right for him to live a normal life after what he has done. I don’t think so.
“He has a chance at 39. People get married at 39. They have kids,” Jenkins-Smith said. “It doesn’t suit him for his three girls he killed to never live a normal life.”
Students killed in the shooting were 14-year-old Nicole Hadley, 17-year-old Jessica James, and 15-year-old Keith Steger.
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Jenkins Smith visited Carneal in prison in 2007 and apologized to her. She said she had forgiven him, but he said he still had to pay for his actions.
“A lot of people think it will spare him the consequences, but I don’t think so,” she said.
Carneal’s parole hearings are scheduled to begin Monday with testimony from close relatives of those wounded and killed in the shooting. I know of only one victim who believes he should be given some form of supervised release.
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The Kentucky State Reformers in Lagrange would hear Carneal’s claims.
Parole hearings are conducted virtually via video call. Jenkins-Smith said the camera would be positioned to show the parolee in a full-body view to show them in a wheelchair.
“Those who experienced its effects 25 years ago will be reminded that they are still dealing with it for the rest of their lives,” she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.