Teen Convicted In Drive-By Shooting Of Australian Student

An Oklahoma teen has been convicted of first-degree murder in the 2013 shooting of Australian college baseball player Christopher Lane, reports NBC News. The drive-by shooting was reportedly carried out “because he was bored,” as per police and an accomplice to the crime. Chancey Allen Luna, now 17, faces a maximum sentence of life without parole and the Stevens County jury is recommending the harshest sentence. Donna Lane, Chris’s mother, told NBC “This naughty boy is now never going to do this to any other family.”

As originally reported by the Inquisitr, Lane, 22, was shot in the back on August 16, 2013, while jogging down a street in Duncan, Oklahoma, on a visit to his girlfriend. Originally from Melbourne, Australia, he was a senior at East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma, on a college baseball scholarship. As per the Wall Street Journal, Dr. Inas Yacoub, a forensic pathologist with the state medical examiner’s office, testified that even immediate medical attention would not have been enough to save Lane’s life. A.22-caliber bullet was recovered from Lane’s body.

“Despite being small, it damaged vital structures and caused significant bleeding, striking two major blood vessels, puncturing both lungs and breaking two ribs.”

Two other teens have been charged and convicted in the case. Michael DeWayne Jones, 19, was the driver of the car and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder as part of a plea bargain, but refused to testify for the prosecution. He is currently serving life with a possibility of parole. James “Bug” Edwards Jr., 17, was a passenger in the car and testified in Luna’s trial as part of a plea bargain that reduced his first-degree murder charge to being an accessory after the fact.

Luna’s attorney, Jim Berry, acknowledged during the trial that the teen had fired the shot, but several times requested lenience on the grounds of Luna’s age.

“They work on impulse, hormones, whatever. They do not make a rational decision as you would in your 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s.”

Requests to allow the jury to consider a conviction on second-degree murder or first-degree manslaughter were denied by District Judge Ken Graham. The prosecution argued that the evidence made it clear that Jones and Luna had intended to kill someone that day.

Chancey Luna’s sentencing for his first-degree murder conviction is set for June 16, and the teen is expected to receive the maximum sentence.

“It’s been incredibly tough … this is so unfamiliar to us, being in a courtroom,” said Lane’s mother. His father added, “It doesn’t change the fact of what happened. So yes, it’s a result. But it’s not a good result or a bad result. It’s just a result.”

[Photo by Stephens County Oklahoma Sheriff’s Department via Getty Images]