Teens who killed a man by dropping a sandbag on him from a bridge receive suspended sentence

The judge says that the teens should be counselled so they might become positive members of their community

The teens killed the man last December (Getty Images)

Four US teenagers who pleaded guilty to dropping a sandbag off of a freeway overpass and killing a 22-year-old man have been given a suspended sentence and ordered to go to treatment.

The Ohio teens killed Marquis Byrd, a passenger in a vehicle on a freeway in Toledo, after dropping the sandbag last December.

The teens were all between the ages of 13 and 14 at the time. The teen who actually dropped the bag pleaded guilty to murder, while the other three pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

The individual who pleaded guilty to murder had been previously sentenced to serve in the state’s juvenile detention program until he turns 21. The other three had received sentences of three years in that same program.

But a judge has cut those sentences down in order to send them to treatment, with the hopes that they can be reformed and eventually become productive members of society.

“It's a treatment facility, for certain services, to provide so these boys change their behaviour and can become productive members of our community,” Judge Denise Navarre Cubbon said of her decision to send the teens to the alternative for juvenile detention.

The decision to suspend the sentences has sparked outrage from Mr Byrd’s family and their lawyer, who have suggested that the time these teens have served is not enough for what they did.

“Suspended what? If you do what? So eight months you get to go home?“ Lillian Diallo, the Byrd family’s lawyer, told Toledo ABC station WTVG following the sentencing. ”This child will never be at home. His son will never see him. His mother will never be able to say, 'Hey son, how are you? How's your day?' Touch his face, see his face. This is outrageous.”

Byrd, a father of two, was planning a surprise proposal to his girlfriend at the time of his death, the lawyer said. His girlfriend was the mother of his children.