Osborne sentencing hearing underway

Investigators testified today that Jesse Osborne carried out extensive online research and discussed his plans before his September 2016 murder of his father and shooting at the Townville Elementary School. In the school shootings, a six-year-old student, Jacob Hall, was killed and a teacher and another student were wounded. Today was the first day of the 17-year-old Osborne’s sentencing hearing. He pleaded guilty in the case late last year. He was 14 at the time of the shootings and the court determined he should be tried as an adult. He faces a sentence of from 30 years to life without parole. FBI Special Agent Shandal Ewing was first on the stand, testifying regarding the over 1,000 pages of Osborne’s social media posts she compiled in the course of the investigation. The posts, she said, showed that Osborne was contact with chat groups worldwide regarding school shootings and was researching guns he hoped to acquire. In one post Osborne said he hoped to kill 50 people. McKindra Bibb, a forensic investigator with the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office continued the testimony of Osborne’s online activities prior to the shooting. He had, she testified, carried out extensive online research regarding details of other school shootings. 10th Circuit Solicitor David Wagner’s questions regarding Osborne’s online activities focused on the apparent extensive premeditation involved.