I was raised in a  fundamentalist Christian cult and we still threw apples, rocks, and snowballs at cars in my neighborhood back in 1965, what is so unusual about that?  

My cousins did it  back in the 1960s too, even though my aunt had been raised in that same cult, and my cousins used to throw  stuff at trains too.  

In fact throwing stuff at cars, trucks, and trains is quite common childhood behavior, which almost all the time ends harmlessly.  

I don't see charging the younger kids as adults.  In Michigan anyone age 17 is always charged as an adult and that has been the law there since the 1960s. 

There has been the inference made by the one kid's lawyer that the oldest boy was a bully and the younger kids were scared not to go along with him.  

I don't see 2nd-degree murder either but certainly reckless manslaughter would be appropriate.  

How about about giving the 4 younger kids probation and making them each pay 25% of their income to support the victim's wife and son?