CONCORD, N.H. — James Marks thinks back to last summer when a judge showed leniency to his son, who was arrested with a friend for chasing down another vehicle and ramming their car into it. He can’t help but wish a judge had thrown his son in jail.

"He would’ve learned his lesson," Marks said of his 18-year-old son, William, who now stands accused with his friend, Steven Spader, and three other young men in connection with the fatal machete attack on a Mont Vernon woman and her 11-year-old daughter.