A
19-year-old
kid who was killed in an
Amarillo parking lot in
1997.
This case was very
emotionally charged and highly
controversial in
West Texas, mainly because the
crime crossed
class barriers. Deneke was a
punk --
mohawk,
leather, the whole deal -- and the kid accused of killing him,
Justin Camp, was a
prep --
nice clothes, nice
car, the whole deal. Yeah, just like in "
The Outsiders."
What happened? The punks didn't want the preps hanging out at the local
IHoP and
vice versa. So they decided to have a
rumble. In the
confusion, Camp ran over Deneke with his car. Yeah, both kids were
drunk. No one talked about that much -- not even the cops, and you'd think they'd
jump on that with both feet...
In the end, Camp was convicted of
manslaughter and sentenced to ten years'
probation and a
$10,000 fine. The punks were
mad because Camp didn't get
the chair, and the preps were mad because the punks were mad. The punks and the preps kept hating each other,
getting drunk, and fighting in parking lots.
What's the
moral of the
story? There is no moral. One kid died because of
stupidity. Another kid got his
life ruined because of stupidity.
No one learned a damn thing.