Over His Mom’s Objection, Boy, 9, Pleads Guilty to Negligent Homicide

An Arizona boy accused of shooting his father and his father's roommate to death when he was only 8 pleaded guilty today to one count of negligent homicide concerning the roommate.

The other charge concerning his father was dropped, reports the Associated Press. No sentence has yet been imposed, but a defense lawyer said earlier that he expects the child, now 9, will not be sent to prison, as discussed in a prior ABAJournal.com post.

Although the boy's mother objected, through a lawyer, Apache County Superior Court Judge Michael Roca accepted the plea today after questioning the child, who isn't identified in the article, for about an hour and asking him if he himself wanted to plead guilty, the news agency reports.