Probation?

At least granny got a measure of vengeance though:

• Two schoolboys who threw bricks at an elderly South Shore homeowner have pleaded guilty to aggravated assault of a senior citizen and criminal damage.

  But the 12- and 13-year-old boys will be sentenced to probation and won’t be locked up in the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, Judge Andrew Berman said Monday morning.

  The case hit the headlines in September when the boys’ 68-year-old victim, Margaret Matthews, shot the 12-year-old boy in the shoulder as he lobbed bricks at her from the roof of a shed at her home in the 7600 block of South Cole.

Get a load of this part though:

• Matthews and several neighbors were ready to testify at trial Monday morning that both boys had terrorized the neighborhood for months, before Matthews finally snapped and opened fire as they smashed her windows. But both boys agreed to a last-minute plea deal.

  Prosecutors agreed to drop felony aggravated battery charges against the boys in return for their guilty pleas to misdemeanor aggravated assault and criminal damage,

The victim and her witnesses are ready to go to trial. Slam-dunk verdict, right? Wrong:

• Speaking outside court, Matthews said “I don’t feel like justice has totally been carried out.”

  Probation and restraining orders preventing the boys from contacting her or any of the witnesses were “not such a big deal,” she said, adding that she thought the boys needed “some stronger order in their lives.”

  Neither the boys nor their families have apologized to her, she said. “They’re in denial,” she added.

  [...] The 12-year-old and his family declined to comment as they left court, but the 13-year-old’s mother said “he never did anything,” before leaving without further comment.

"Never did anything," except learn a lesson in how to manipulate the system and duck all responsibility for his actions, which we are sure will serve him in good stead as he begins his lifetime of passing through the criminal justice system until someone else finally finishes the job Mrs. Matthews wasn't able to do. She's irritated:

• Matthews said she would “be keeping my eye out” for both boys and wouldn’t hesitate to call police on them again, though she hoped “they do something better and constructive with their lives.”

Don't hold your breath Mrs. Matthews. But do keep your gun handy - you're going to need it again, probably in short order.