Juvenile Justice
8-Year-Old Boy Charged with Murder; Prosecutors May Seek to Try Him as Adult
Posted Nov 10, 2008 8:25 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
An 8-year-old Arizona boy appears in court today after being charged with two counts of premeditated murder in the shooting deaths of his father and a co-worker.
St. Johns police say the boy admitted killing his father, Vincent Romero, and a co-worker who lived with them, but the boy’s lawyers say the child was questioned without a lawyer or a guardian present, reports KOLD News 13. Prosecutors may seek to try the boy as an adult, USA Today reports.
A judge ordered a competency hearing for the boy on Friday.
According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, no children under the age of 9 have been charged with murder since 2005, the Arizona Republic reports. A 7-year-old and an 8-year-old from Illinois were charged with killing an older child in a 1998 case, but they were later exonerated. Both had confessed during a police interrogation.
St. Johns Police Chief Roy Melnick said police were investigating whether there was abuse in the home or discipline that was too strict. Melnick said police had responded to domestic violence calls in the home in the past, the Associated Press reports.
"I think it was on his mind a long time, and then a trigger just triggered it, and the child said: 'I've had enough. I'm gonna take care of it today,' ” Melnick said. “We certainly have to take a look at physical and emotional abuse.”
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Comments
Gary
Nov 10, 2008 11:36 AM CST
It is unfortunate for the victims in this matter. However, This boy should be tried as an adult and receive the same penalties as any other person around this country who has gone to prison for life for murder. Often times when the suspect is white, the law tends to want to be very lenient. If this was a black youth, there would be no question as to whether he would be tried as an adult. It would be automatic. A Delaware boy of a similar age was sentenced to LIFE in prison for killing a girl while playing. This again is another example of the bias so called “Injustice System” in this country.
df
Nov 10, 2008 12:29 PM CST
If one thinks this 8-year-old (or children generally) should be charged with murder, fine, that can be argued reasonably. But to suggest that because a Delaware child was sentenced to life and racial bias is ridiculous. Either agree that children should be tried as adults, or if one has the opposite view criticize such trials, but don’t try to argue “hey, we did it in another state and anyway this child’s white so make sure not to be lenient”.
Jim D
Nov 18, 2008 6:14 PM CST
The prosecutor should be tared and feathered for insisting an 8 year old should be tried as an adult. In addition any one who thinks an 8 year old should be tried as an adult should move to someplace like the country of Iran were children are brutalized by the legal system frequently.
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