Lessons from prison

SEMINOLE

William Thornton surveyed a crowd of Osceola Middle School students on Wednesday and saw something familiar in their unkempt hair, drooping jeans and slouching posture. "When I look at a lot of you," he said, "I see myself." Not so long ago, he had been carefree and a bit careless. One bad decision ended his youth. He stood before these students as part of a court order, but his message for the Great American Teach-In was one he truly wished they would heed. "Stay out of the streets," he told them. "It ain't got nothing for you." The streets were harsh to Thornton.

One night when he was 17, he drove without a license. He skidded through a stop sign on a poorly lit road in Citrus County and collided with a sport utility vehicle. Two people died. It was an accident, but the state charged him with a crime.

He got a 30-year sentence in adult prison. He spent three years, seven months and four days behind bars before Tampa attorney Stephen Romine convinced a judge that Thornton didn't deserve to be there.

He's 22 now and on probation. As part of his revised sentence, a judge wanted him to speak at schools with his attorney.

His first venture would be an hour-plus drive from his home in Oxford and a far cry from his past public speaking appearances. In April, he stood at the front of a quiet courtroom and apologized to the families of the crash victims. In May, he shared his story with an attentive group of adults at a ministry for ex-offenders and addicts.

On Wednesday, his audiences included dozens of sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders. Some paid attention, some did not. Thornton had a microphone, but still his soft voice battled to be heard above the din of the adjoining cafeteria.

His mother and grandmother were there, too. Thornton's license is suspended, so they have to drive him to work at Walmart and anywhere else he needs to go.

None of the students could drive yet, either. But each day, Romine said, they made decisions with consequences. Thornton's decision to drive without a license was a mistake that spiraled into a nightmare, the attorney said.

"Even your smallest decision can potentially change the rest of your life," Romine said. "It's important to make good decisions from the beginning."

The attorney warned that a wrong move might land them in the adult criminal justice system, despite their youth. They could be housed with murderers, rapists and thieves, just as Thornton had been while in prison.

"Here's the wakeup call for all of you," Romine said. "Anything you do potentially exposes you, depending on what you do, to things that you may never expect could happen to you at this point in your life."

That seemed to get some kids' attention. But this being a middle school, they had more pressing questions.

Did Thornton ever get in fights?

"Yes," he answered. (He defended himself but had a clean disciplinary record.)

Did he get free food?

"You get three meals a day," he said, "but I'm pretty sure you don't want to eat it."

No pizza, no tacos, no steak.

"You get chicken maybe once a month that might be a bird, not chicken."

That answer got some laughs. Thornton's nerves eased.

Later, when the talks were over, he said he hoped the students would remember his story.

"If I would have paid more attention to these things in school," he said, "maybe I wouldn't have done some of the things I did."

Colleen Jenkins can be reached at cjenkins@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3337.