Two teenage boys caused damage to a Costco in Hendricks County, Indiana, by lighting a firework and tossing it into a trash can, starting a fire. The two avoided probation but got slapped with an order to pay $28,750.50 in restitution.
Attorney Audrey Lunsford represented the two juveniles—identified as BK, age 17, and SK, age 15—in front of the Indiana Supreme Court on Jan. 11. Robert Young represented the state of Indiana in the case.
“This has pretty significant consequences for what the prosecutor had characterized in the court of appeals, quoted as ‘just a stupid decision that these two individuals made’ … I don’t think most adults, let alone a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old kid, would have thought that that would have cost even $1,000 of damages,” Lunsford said.
Lundford’s argument was that the courts should find another way for the two to be disciplined for their actions. “There should be no order for restitution, and these kids are upstanding kids, and it’s just a stupid decision, and it does not promote rehabilitation,” she said.