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Elberta Home Invasion
By Tiffany Craig Special Assignment Reporter
Published: Fri, February 08, 2008 - 7:04 pm
Last Updated: Fri, February 08, 2008 - 7:10 pm
Last Updated: Fri, February 08, 2008 - 7:10 pm
Tiffany Craig
Mobile County Sheriff Sam Cochran say Richard Land was found dead in his front yard on January 15, 2008.
For three weeks, the case in the Theodore Highlands neighborhood went unsolved.
An anonymous tip led investigators to the teen.
Cochran says the 14-year randomly burglarized the house on Westfield Road of electronics, jewelry and a gun.
The Sheriff tells us that the teen went back to steal more stuff two days later and Land was at home. "He went back to the residence maybe for an additional break in and was confronted or spotted by the victim of the burglary."
When sheriff's deputies arrived, Land was being treated by paramedics from gunshot injuries. He died at the scene. The Sheriff believes that the gun used to kill Land was the same one stolen from the house during the first burglary.
Cochran says the teenager has been in trouble before. "He's been a suspect in a robbery recently but had not been adjudicated in the youth center for that offense and now this has happened."
The 14-year old lives a few streets away but Cochran says the crime was random and the two didn't know each other.
District Attorney John Tyson has requested that the 14-year old be certified as an adult in this case. That process could take several weeks to be decided.
If the teen is tried as an adult, he could get life in prison. Otherwise, he would only be in custody until he's 21.
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Yes virginia,some people can get away with murder.