Granada Hills Teen Sentenced to Life for Missouri Murder

A Granada Hills teenager has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for murdering a classmate at a southeast Missouri boarding school for troubled youths.

The defendant, Joseph Stanley Burris, 17, was convicted in October of first-degree murder in the March 25, 1996, killing of 16-year-old William A. Futrelle.

A jury found that Burris and co-defendant Anthony Gene Rutherford beat and stabbed Futrelle to death at the Mountain Park Baptist Church and Boarding Academy near Patterson, about 110 miles south of St. Louis.

Rutherford, 19, of Siloam Springs, Ark., was sentenced in May to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Burris received the same sentence on Wednesday.

“Given the jury’s verdict, the judge had no choice,” said defense attorney James Bowles of the sentencing. “He [Burris] knew it was coming.

“He did as well as he could. He was a 17-year-old boy who because of the silliness of the Missouri Legislature can never qualify to get out of jail.”

In a chilling videotaped confession, Burris and Rutherford described how they killed Futrelle because they feared he would expose their plot to take over the quiet campus, have their way with the female students, start a Branch Davidian-like cult and make it onto national television.

Although Burris was 15 at the time of the killing, he was certified to stand trial as an adult. State law prohibits the state from seeking the death penalty for those who are younger than 16 at the time of the offense.

Bowles said he is appealing a judge’s decision to deny Burris a new trial.