By of the

In a case he called "off the charts," a Milwaukee judge on Friday sentenced a teenager to 35 years in prison for fatally shooting a pregnant mother of seven in front of her oldest son, just to steal a purse.

Mical D. Thomas, 17, pleaded guilty in March to two counts of first-degree reckless homicide for killing Sharon Staples, 34, and the unborn fetus she was carrying last summer when Thomas was 16.

Thomas has an extensive juvenile record and was supposed to be in custody or on home monitoring at the time, but Department of Corrections errors left him unsupervised for many hours each day.

Circuit Judge David Borowski called the department "completely incompetent in this case."

But he also put blame directly on Thomas' family for allowing him to join a gang, run the streets, abuse drugs and alcohol, and ignore the rules of his prior court supervision.

"Mr. Thomas was not raised well," Borowski said. "That is the fault of the parents."

About two dozen of Thomas' family and friends attended Friday's sentencing. Four stormed out of the hearing at different times, and at least one person was taken into custody when a fray broke out at the end.

Jimmy Scales was driving a stolen minivan when Thomas and Malik Merchant saw Staples and her son in the 3700 block of W. Lisbon Ave. about 5:30 a.m. Aug. 7 and told Scales to stop, according to the complaint. Thomas and Merchant jumped out and threatened her. When she wouldn't give up her purse, Thomas shot her. He and Merchant fled but came back later to take the purse, while Staples' 13-year-old son was seeking help from residents in the area.

Scales, 18, who pleaded guilty to felony murder, was sentenced last month to 25 years in prison.

Merchant, 16, pleaded guilty in May to single counts of first-degree reckless homicide and armed robbery with use of force, each as party to a crime. Borowski sentenced him Friday to 17 years in prison on the homicide and two on the robbery, to be served concurrently, plus eight years of supervised release.

Thomas' attorney, Jeffrey Jensen, had urged Borowski to impose only the minimum sentence needed to accomplish the goals of sentencing and suggested that because Thomas is so young, he was much more likely to make serious rehabilitative changes in coming years than someone in his 30s.

Juveniles, Jensen said, "have little choice or ability to extricate themselves from the circumstances that lead to their criminal behavior," and cited this week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that life without parole sentences are unconstitutional as applied to defendants who committed crimes as juveniles.

He said his client "is by no means a lost cause," and recommended a sentence of 10 years in prison and 15 years of extended supervision.

Borowski made a point of saying he did not believe the 35 years - 25 for killing Staples and 10 for killing her unborn child - or possibly even a longer sentence would equate to a life term.

As he did at Scales' sentencing, Borowski noted the fact that the defendants drove around the block and returned to where Staples was bleeding to death in the street, just to take her purse. That, he said, showed the youths were "completely devoid of conscience."

Thomas apologized to Staples' family, as did his mother in a brief, tearful statement to the court.

After the hearing was over, Thomas, who was shackled, made a movement that caused deputies to take him to the floor, prompting an outburst and screaming from his family members that drew several more deputies to the courtroom where nine had already been monitoring the gallery.