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Smirking teenager LAUGHS as he enters court accused of shooting dead newlywed father-to-be who 'struggled during robbery'
- Simeon Adams, 16, is accused of the shooting murder of Nathan Trapuzzano, 24
- He was led smiling and laughing to a court hearing this morning
- Police say Adams and an accomplice herded Trapuzzano, a newlywed father-to-be, into a parking lot where Adams shot him
- Adams is also accused of attempted murder for a shooting two days earlier
- He was himself shot in the neck the evening after Trapuzzano's murder
- Adams will be tried as an adult
Killer smile: Simeon Adams seemed unremorseful as he was led to his first court appearance
Senseless murder: Police believe Adams shot Trapuzzano while attempting to rob him
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His neck was covered with a large bandage, the result of a bullet wound the teenager incurred the night after he allegedly killed Trapuzzano.
The Indy Star reports that Adams faces a count of 'knowing murder,' a count of felony murder, attempted robbery, unlawfully possessing a firearm and a five-year enhancement from committing a felony with a firearm.
He will be tried as an adult.
The murder charges carry sentences of 45 to 65 years, and the attempted robbery charge carries a 20 to 50 year term.
Adams's trial will begin on June 2.
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Rap sheet: Simeon Adams is only 16 but has a long criminal record of 29 violent crimes
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Simeon Adams, known by the nickname 'Red', is alleged to have confessed to a friend that he shot Nathan Trapuzzano once in the stomach after the newlywed, who was expecting his first child, reached down to his shoes as Adams made him strip during the robbery.
Adams' friend Marvell Robinson told detectives he was woken up by the alleged shooter on the morning of April 1 at his home in Indianapolis. Adams told him: 'Man, the police is out here and they are looking for me.'
Robinson told detectives Adams made Nathan strip, according to the court papers. 'When he told Nathan to take his pants off the victim started reaching for his shoes and Simeon asked him [Trapuzzano] "Why you reaching for your shoes?" Simeon said the "white man tried to tussle with me so I shot him."'
‘He never took anything of value. His keys would have been the only thing. He didn’t take his wallet, I know because the police couldn’t identify him when they found him. He didn’t have his phone, but that was a flip phone with duct-tape holding the battery in anyway.
‘All he had was his gold crucifix and his gold wedding band, but they didn’t take either of those, which I’m glad about. Even his MP3 player was worth $23.’
At first police struggled to provide a motive as to why anyone would attack someone dressed in a sweater and track pants out on their morning walk.
Some suggested it was a sick gang initiation, but it now seems it was just a desperate robbery attempt by young thugs.
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But at the same time he admitted the teen had been in and out of juvenile detention centers for years.
And this morning more details of Adam’s extensive rap sheet emerged. Adams and another man were accused of stealing several firearms from a local shop last month. It is believed a stolen weapon was used in Nathan’s murder.
Local television station 6 ABC reported that Adams has been in and out of handcuffs since 2007, with arrest reports indicating he has been caught with guns, drugs and various stolen goods for years.
In October 2013, police said he was caught with a stolen pistol after he and a friend were driving around on a scooter.
Two months later in December, Adams was caught with another gun. Police said a woman’s car was stolen as she fueled up at a Sunoco gas station. When the car was found, Adams was nearby with marijuana and a loaded .38-special pistol.
In another arrest last year, Adams was caught carrying a flat-screen TV from a home that had just been burgled, records said.
And when he was just nine years old, police said he and three friends were arrested for tossing huge rocks onto traffic from the Interstate-65 Bridge at MLK Street.
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Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz2yWZBmmE9
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