Alex Hribal was 16-years-old in 2014 when he took kitchen knives to Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, Pennsylvania and stabbed over 20 people. Some of the wounds that the victims received were so severe that one student almost had his lip detached from his face, while another student’s liver was protruding from their wound.
When Hribal was finally subdued by the Assistant Principal of the school, Hribal shouted that his work wasn’t done, and he had more people to kill.
Thankfully, no one was killed, but Hribal was charged with 21 counts of attempted murder.
So what was the impetus that caused Hribal to go on such a violent and destructive rampage? Not a lot, actually. Hribal was a columbiner who modeled his attack after the school shooting at Columbine. Hribal even told the defense’s psychiatrist he believed he was being “egged on or controlled by Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris from hell.” He even planned his attack for April 20th but since no school was being held on that day in 2014, he changed his attack date to April 9th, the birthday of Eric Harris.
Hribal was charged as an adult and in 2017, he pleaded guilty to 21 counts of attempted murder. In early 2018, he was sentenced to 23-60 years behind bars.
Now, the 23-year-old Hribal has a new attorney, and that attorney has filed a new appeal for his client. The new attorney is appealing for a new trial on the allegations that Hribal’s initial attorney provided insufficient counsel. Hribal’s initial attorney claims that the sentence was excessive, but he presented all the evidence that was available to him.
To be honest, how can you successfully defend a client who stabbed 21 people and said he had more people to kill? If Hribal didn’t plead guilty, we might have seen a triple-digit sentence for 21 counts of attempted murder.
So far, Hribal’s new attorney hasn’t gone into specifics about the appeal. It will be interesting to see what tactic the attorney chooses. If he’s going to argue about Hribal being charged as an adult, that ship seems to have sailed prior to the trial and in my recollection, that argument rarely works.
If any updates are provided, I’ll be sure to keep you up to date.
Real Crime with Trench Reynolds 