Juvenile Justice
In Police Video, 8-Year-Old Boy Changes Story, Says He May Have Shot Dad
Posted Nov 19, 2008 6:59 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
In a police video released to the media, an 8-year-old boy accused of shooting his father and another man gives shifting accounts of what happened, finally telling police he may have shot the men.
At first the boy denies any role in the killings, but his story changes with pressure, report the Arizona Republic and the Associated Press. First he says he came home from school and saw his father’s co-worker, Timothy Romans, lying on the ground and went inside to find his father, Vincent Romero, bloody from the shooting. Later he said he may have shot at a white car fleeing the scene. Then he said he may have shot his father and his co-worker Timothy Romans, after they had already been shot. The reason, he said, was to end their suffering.
"I think, um, I think I shot my dad because he was suffering, I think," the boy said. "So, I may have shot him."
Later the boy appears to admit to the shooting, saying "After I shot him once he was still moving, I think I shot him again," CNN reports. Asked what he’s thinking, the boy says, ''I'm going to go to juvie,'' and he buries his head in his jacket.
CNN ran part of of the video.
Steven Drizen, legal director at the Center on Wrongful Convictions in Chicago, told the Arizona Republic that children can be pressured into making false confessions. "There is a heightened risk of false confessions when police officers use tactics that are legally permissible with adults on children," he said.
The boy’s lawyer has said he thinks the tape will be excluded from court because the boy was questioned without a guardian or lawyer present.
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Comments
TMT
Nov 19, 2008 10:41 AM CST
WHAT WAS THE BOY’S LAWYER THINKING WHEN IT ALLOWED THE TAPE TO SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY?!?!?!? The boy needs a Guardian Ad Litem appointed to represent his interests. I think it is clear that he didn’t do it because that was not his first story. What about his future life?
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alawyer
Nov 19, 2008 12:05 PM CST
Did the boy’s lawyer permit the release of the tape, or did the police and prosecutor’s offices overstep the change to the gag order in the case? The boy, it appears, is the victim of false confession syndrome, and it appears obvious to anyone trained in criminal law that the police extracted a very questionable confession. We likely will NEVER know what happened here - it could be that the boy had fired the gun without permission and felt guilty, or he felt guilty because he did not prevent the killings, or he may be the innocent victim of an adult who is using him to cover up a domestic situation leading to the killings. This case makes as much sense as the Ryan Harris case - there is something very wrong here. The real wrong, however, is that the United States allows children this young to be charged with crimes when no other civilized country in the world recognizes the age of criminality as below 10 - and most nations place it at 12 or 14. Too many police officials and prosecutors get headlines by using these unfortunate children - everyone wants to be “tough on juvenile crime” and that has led to the corruption of our justice system. It should be against the law to parade an 8 year old around town in handcuffs and shackles - it is unnecssary, offensive to civilized notions of human decency, and just plain old-fashioned child abuse. We do not allow private citizens to brutalize children this way - we should not allow the police to do it either.
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Ms. White
Nov 23, 2008 2:29 PM CST
This CHILD was definitely COERCED into a FALSE CONFESSION! I watched a 30 min vs of the St. Johns Police Department’s interrogation of this 8 year old child and it is VERY CLEAR that the two police officers tricked, influenced, and coerced this child into giving FALSE replies to their LEADING QUESTIONS and STATEMENTS! In the lengthier vs of the interrogation you see the child, repeatedly, giving the SAME VERSION, of finding Timothy Romans and Vincent Romero already dead or dying, upon coming to the house. For over 20 minutes the child tells the same version, repeatedly, with no discrepancies UNTIL the ARMED POLICE officers start confusing this CHILD with FALSE STATEMENTS (i.e. LIES) The BEHAVIOR from these “officers” and from the Chief of Police, Roy Melnick, is DESPICABLE, APPALLING and just plain DISGUSTING AND DISGRACEFUL!
We are living in the United States of America where a SUSPECT has the RIGHT TO AN ATTORNEY, and more! It is disgusting that the Chief of Police ALLOWED THIS TO HAPPEN, ENCOURAGED ITS PROGRESSION AND THEN WANTED TO CHARGE AN EIGHT YEAR OLD CHILD AS AN ADULT! View the lengthiest version that you can find. You will see how forthcoming and cooperative the child was at the beginning of the interrogation and how certain he was of DETAILS such as WITNESSING A SUSPICIOUS CAR FLEEING THE SCENE OF A CRIME right down to the size, color, and the rims of the car! There are NUMEROUS QUESTIONS THAT MUST BE ANSWERED before jumping to conclusion that this boy is guilty of a double murder, such as:
1) Has the St. Johns Police Department checked to see if these men were involved in a DRUG SCANDAL or other SEEDY AFFAIRS? Why did 39 year old Timothy Romans NEED to rent a room? Where was his support system & family? My forty years experience has proven that NO ONE rents a room at age 39 years old without having serious personal and social issues. Have the police taken toxicology evidence to see if either or both men had drugs or alcohol in their system which would indicate a substance abuse problem therefore a possible “bill collector” coming to the house?
2) Was Timothy Romans having an affair with Vincent Romero’s wife? Was there some other form of hostility between the two men possibly work related?
3) Did the rifle have a kickback? If so, did the boy have bruises on his body and shoulder from the kick back of the rifle? Did the boy get knocked down with each gun shot?
4) Was it really possible that this 8 year old child RELOAD a .22 caliber RIFLE 10 TIMES AND KEEP SHOOTING TWO GROWN ADULT MEN? WOULDN’T THAT TAKE TOO MUCH TIME? 5) HOW WOULD AN 8 YEAR OLD CHILD BE ABLE TO RELOAD, MULTIPLE TIMES, WITHOUT THE OTHER ADULT MALE BEING ABLE TO STOP HIM? or FLEE? 6) HAVE THE POLICE DETERMINED THE ANGLE OF ENTRY OF THE BULLETS? GUN POWER RESIDUE ON THE BOY?
According to the interrogation Timothy Romans was found at the front entrance and the boy’s father was found UPSTAIRS! The door to the house was open! The family dog was in its cage. Doesn’t that seem suspicious? The first thing my children do when they come home is to welcome their pets! 7) HOW WOULD THIS CHILD HAVE THE FORESIGHT TO KEEP THE DOG CAGED?! 8) The child described seeing smoke lingering around the ceiling (after being questioned by the police “Was there any smoke?”). This statement would be consistent from someone who entered a room AFTER THE FACT! He consistently tries to describe a small amount of smoke in the room but the police officer keeps arguing with him about what he saw. Would the room contain enough residual smoke to be found on the boys clothing ONLY from the boy entering the room after someone else shot the two men?9) Why was the truck door left open?10) The police officer told the boy that there was a witness who heard someone in the house hollering the boy’s name but according to the “so-called” witness there was no reply heard from the boy. (Or so the police “said”.)Could that be because the boy was NOT THERE?!11) The boy’s father and step-mother were just married in September.
Could a jilted ex-boyfriend or ex-spouse of either have committed this crime?12) Did the two men walk in on an attempted burglary gone wrong?This CHILD has been treated with GRAVE disrespect and in an APPALLING MANNER from the “ADULTS” who has surrounded him since the murder of his father!
SHAME ON THE St. Johns POLICE DEPARTMENT & FOR THE APACHE COUNTY GOVERNMENT including the Prosecutors FOR ALLOWING THIS TO HAPPEN! The 8 year old boy had the RIGHT to have his CIVIL LIBERTIES HONORED! The St. Johns Police Department & the Apache County Prosecutors have NO HONOR! May GOD FORBID my own 8 year old son come home one day to find me murdered, since, I do, currently have a PROTECTIVE ORDER IN PLACE against my children’s father & many attempts have already been made on my own life by someone other than my 8 year old son! With Grave Concerns for ALL OUR LIBERTIES,
Ms. White from Virginia
Early Childhood Educator & mother of four!
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