On Dec. 19, 2011 Tiernan, then 17, upended Anthony Parker, and slammed his head into the rock-hard floor in the common area at the One Way Farm group home in Fairfield Twp. It was caught on videotape and sealed his bindover to adult court.
A grand jury charged him with murder, a jury found him guilty of involuntary manslaughter and as a result he spent nine months in the adult justice system.
The incident happened at Christmas time. Kids there were bragging about family visits. Tiernan had no one. Parker allegedly taunted Tiernan saying “go (expletive) yourself and go (expletive) your mom.”
Fights frequently broke out at the group home and Tiernan said on that day, a heated debate ensued over ownership of a flashlight. He said he was listening to the hubbub and snapped.
“I kind of felt like every bad thing in my life met up at that moment,” he said. “I was in a bad situation and that was a bad way to take my anger out.”
During his trial, Tiernan said he never dreamed the fight would end in Parker’s death, which happened 10 days after the 16-year-old arrived at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
Tiernan was told after the fight Parker would probably be okay. Then his case worker delivered the awful news.
“That was the worst feeling in the world,” he said and later realized “This is it. I’m never going to get out.”
Tiernan was sent into the adult system on a mandatory bindover from juvenile court. He was indicted and transferred from the juvenile detention center to the county jail.
Tiernan said the juvenile lock-up wasn’t too bad. He got to play basketball and cards and the “food was decent for being in jail.”
When he went to the adult jail, he was placed in protective custody with another juvenile. Solitary confinement was more like it, they were locked down 23 hours a day, sometimes all day if the guards forgot about them. Tiernan spent almost a month by himself on a pod at the jail until one of his attorneys, Charlie M. Rittgers, petitioned for his release into the general population. Tiernan said it was scary but better than being in solitary.
“When we were in protective custody, it wasn’t scary then because we were just us. It was the most boring you could ever possibly think,” he said. “But when I turned 18 and they sent me over to the general population, it was scary, it was just kind of something I had to deal with quick. I didn’t want to let anyone try to take advantage of me or pick on me. You just got to get used to it. I stayed to myself.”
Erin Davies, an attorney specializing in youth bindovers at the Children’s Law Center said trying to protect youth in adult facilities by locking them away from the general population can be detrimental.
“Putting youth in a cell alone for 23-24 hours a day can cause physical, mental and long-term developmental damage, including making existing mental health conditions worse,” she said. “These results aren’t good for either the youth or their communities in the long run.”
The trial lasted two days in July 2012. During opening statements, Assistant Prosecutor Brad Burress made the state’s case for finding Tiernan guilty of murder.
“We’re going to ask that you find this defendant guilty of murder,” he said. “Not because he purposefully killed him, but because he knowingly caused serious physical harm that caused Anthony Parker to die. It’s nothing more, but certainly nothing less.”
Tiernan said hearing words like that was very painful.
“Every time they say something bad about you, it’s another stab in the chest,” he said. “It’s not good; it was pretty crazy.”
The jury of seven women and five men took two hours to decide Tiernan was not guilty of murder but guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Tiernan said at the time, because he felt so horrible about what happened to Parker, he felt like the jury almost did him a favor.
“I felt like I got lucky and I got off on something that I shouldn’t have gotten off with, that’s how I felt at the time, that’s really how I felt,” he said. “Then everyone sat me down and said this was an accident, but I just really felt bad about what happened.”
Judge Patricia Oney sentenced him to 54 more days in the county jail in August.
“I thought I was going to prison for sure. The whole day and the day before I said I’m ready for whatever happens, I’ve made it this far and I’m not going away for 15 years to life, so whatever happens I’ll be content with,” Tiernan said. “If she would have given me three years I would have been okay with it; it’s a lot better than 15. But when she said 54 days I was almost like — what?”
Tiernan’s case went back to juvenile court on a reverse bindover to see if he was amenable to juvenile court sanctions, because the charge he was found guilty on was not a mandatory bindover charge. Judge Ron Craft decided he needed to stay in adult court and thus a felony now stains his record. Rittgers said Tiernan’s case is highly unusual.
“It’s so rare to have that happen,” he said. “Because most of the cases that get bound over are murders and pretty egregious crimes, they are not being plead down to third-degree felonies.”
When he got out of jail, one of Tiernan’s former teachers Jessica Krohn and her husband Ryan took him into their Clermont County home. Krohn gave a video deposition during the trial in support of Tiernan, saying he was one of her favorite students. The Krohns had a 2-year-old daughter but very few qualms about making Tiernan a part of their little family.
“I certainly don’t condone what he did,” she said. “There was a loss of a life, and I know he regrets that. I hope people know how much he regrets it and he understands that. There was already the loss of one life, and we just wanted him to have a chance… He’s just never really had a fair shot.”
Tiernan tried to enroll at Milford High School but officials there wouldn’t let him attend school. Tiernan said he really wanted to be able to attend the actual school, but he received his GED through home schooling and says, “the diploma is the same as everybody else.”
Tiernan moved out of the Krohns’ house last April because he said it was time to move on, on his own. But he still feels like he is a part of the Krohn family.
“Ryan and Jessica helped me a lot; they are inspiring people and they helped me through a lot,” he said. “I’ve already been through a lot so I guess that helps. They made me feel like I was part of the family.”
Family is actually what got Tiernan in trouble in the first place. His father left first, then his mother abandoned him when he was 12 years old. He ended up at One Way Farm because he ran away from his aunt and uncle’s home because of the drug activity there. Parker’s remark about Tiernan’s mother tipped off the beating.
Ironically Tiernan’s legal troubles have forged a renewed relationship with his father. After he moved out of the Krohns and in with his sister, he started seeing his dad frequently. Now they have let bygones be bygones.
“There wasn’t really any time to be mad at him. I didn’t have a job, and I was in a bad situation. I was too busy trying to get my life straight, and I didn’t want to be mad at someone else,” he said. “He said he was sorry for what happened and that was the end of it.”
Tiernan is now living at a weekly rate “value place” and working, washing cars, changing tires and sometimes repossessing cars at a car lot on Route 4. He said he probably applied to 50 places before he landed his first job at BW3s; most people wouldn’t even return his calls.
Tiernan said maybe in a year or so, he will go back to school, perhaps to become a lawyer.
Tiernan also has connected with the Children’s Law Center and is giving presentations to lawyers and law students, telling them how he survived the adult legal system. Davies said Tiernan is an inspiration and a positive example.
“What do we as a society want to do? Do we want to kind of throw them away and say you’ve done this one thing and that’s it? That defines you for the rest of your life. Or do we want to say we want to give you as many opportunities as we can to be like Lance?” she said. “Lance has really become a positive, contributing, taxpaying member of society despite going through all of this.”
Parker’s relatives could not be reached for comment, but his adopted grandmother Anita Smith blamed the group home for not seeking medical attention for Parker immediately.
Prosecutor Mike Gmoser, who tried the case with Burress, said: “If he is now free in society and taken steps at anger management that would bring me the most joy of any consequence of this case,” he said. “His impulsive behavior is what ended up killing a young man and those are the impulses that need to be controlled. If he has accomplished that, then it is obvious he is on the road to redemption.”
Tiernan was required to take anger management classes as part of his sentence, and he is still on probation. He said he has learned a very important lesson.
“I learned there’s not too many things worth fighting over, especially just people arguing,” he said. “… Don’t let other people get the best of you and make you angry over something that’s irrelevant and not even something to be angry about.”
About the Author