The Truth
“Lotts fatally stabbed 17-year-old Michael Barton outside a residence in Leadington on Nov. 14, 1999. The defendant was 14 years old when the murder
occurred….”
“At the time of the murder, Lotts and Barton lived in the same residence at the edge of Park Hills. They lived with Barton’s mother and Lotts’ father. The two boys were visiting friends in Leadington when the stabbing occurred. There had been an earlier confrontation between the two in the residence, according to testimony presented by Special Prosecutor Michael Hendrickson of the Missouri Attorney General’s Office. Other testimony indicated that after the argument was taken outside the house, Lotts stabbed Barton twice in the chest with a
hunting knife….”
“A jury deliberated less than two hours at the conclusion of Lotts’ trial in Farmington in November of 2002 before finding him guilty of first-degree murder and armed criminal action.”
Leroy Sigman, Lotts’ Murder Conviction Upheld by Appeals Court, Daily Journal Online (Missouri), January 22, 2004.
Anti-JLWOP Activist’s Version
“When an argument over a toy ended in the death of his stepbrother, Quantel was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in prison, despite pleas from his stepmother that he have a chance forparole.”
Equal Justice Initiative, Cruel and Unusual: Sentencing 13- and 14-Year-Old Children to Die in
Prison, page 8.
“Quantel loved his stepbrother Michael and spent a lot of time with him. On the day of the crime, however, the two boys got into an argument. Michael was stabbed with a
knife and died.”
Equal Justice Initiative, Cruel and Unusual: Sentencing 13- and 14-Year-Old Children to Die in Prison, page 30.
Research from the Heritage Foundation’s Adult Time For Adult Crime.
