One Down
The 9-year-old Arizona boy accused of killing his father and a friend has pled out of spending any time in a correctional facility. Because, y'know, he is little.
Not old enough to go to war and kill people legally, but old enough to kill two people, nonetheless. The boy told a Child Protective Services worker that he made a pledge to himself: on his 1,000 whipping, he would kill his father. In the commission of the murders, the then 8-year-old reloaded a .22-caliber rifle seven times.
Defense attorney Benjamin Brewer said, of the murders, "I think this experience probably can change an individual, and I'm hoping this doesn't tremendously change him." No kidding. Yeah, we wouldn't want him to be anything other than the youthful murderer he is now.
I originally read about this story earlier in the week on an AOL or Yahoo release, and the phrase that struck me came from the police chief who said how relieved he was the boy would not be incarcerated, because he could pick up some really bad habits in there.
Wouldn't want that, eh? I was dumbfounded: had he not already picked up some bad habits?
Now, we are told the town "has been spared" the trauma of a murder trial as the boy has not had to 'fess up about the father, but only confess to negligent homicide in the case of the father's friend. If you don't admit to it, it didn't happen, did it? Sweep it under the carpet as though it never happened. There, that's better. He'll be ready for a job in a big brokerage house in no time.
Apache County Attorney Michael Whiting explained the reason for dropping the charge of killing his father thusly: "How is he going to deal with 'I pleaded guilty to killing my dad'?" So, we are to presume he will be much better off knowing he was not held to account for his actions.
This is the sort of thing that makes America what it is. Delusional.
Not old enough to go to war and kill people legally, but old enough to kill two people, nonetheless. The boy told a Child Protective Services worker that he made a pledge to himself: on his 1,000 whipping, he would kill his father. In the commission of the murders, the then 8-year-old reloaded a .22-caliber rifle seven times.
Defense attorney Benjamin Brewer said, of the murders, "I think this experience probably can change an individual, and I'm hoping this doesn't tremendously change him." No kidding. Yeah, we wouldn't want him to be anything other than the youthful murderer he is now.
I originally read about this story earlier in the week on an AOL or Yahoo release, and the phrase that struck me came from the police chief who said how relieved he was the boy would not be incarcerated, because he could pick up some really bad habits in there.
Wouldn't want that, eh? I was dumbfounded: had he not already picked up some bad habits?
Now, we are told the town "has been spared" the trauma of a murder trial as the boy has not had to 'fess up about the father, but only confess to negligent homicide in the case of the father's friend. If you don't admit to it, it didn't happen, did it? Sweep it under the carpet as though it never happened. There, that's better. He'll be ready for a job in a big brokerage house in no time.
Apache County Attorney Michael Whiting explained the reason for dropping the charge of killing his father thusly: "How is he going to deal with 'I pleaded guilty to killing my dad'?" So, we are to presume he will be much better off knowing he was not held to account for his actions.
This is the sort of thing that makes America what it is. Delusional.
Labels: 9 year old murderer, st. john arizona boy kills father, vincent romero
posted by Lisa at 9:10 PM
5 Comments:
amazing
when my sister, who now works in a state prison as a nurse used to work in a state mental hospital, her favorite shrink during an intake interview for a child who had killed a parent would always make a point to ask did they have it coming?
sometimes, an exploration of the history would show that the patient had been judicially committed to a mental hospital for the sanest fucking thing they had ever done in their lives.
still, arizona justice is very, very strange.
MB,
True, we were not privy to the preceding events. And I am always curious as to what brings a person to that point. In speculation, no doubt habitual, brutal abuse might drive a person to such a desperate action.
But the thing that amazed me was the clueless statements uttered by the adults involved in the case. "We don't know what to do with an 8-year-old" was one of them. Well -- murders committed by young people are a part of our society, as are guns, as is abuse. Form a protocol to deal with such eventualities.
We should not be so flummoxed at these occurrences, and should act in a procedural way for the good of all involved.
To me, it ties in to the Phony War on Terror. How could we possibly claim to be so...flummoxed by 9-11? The precedents were there well in advance. Such attitudes are in bad faith.
A thousand beatings in eight years? I'd say there's one less asshole walking the face of the earth now. Probably two, inasmuch as the other dude, dad's running buddy, was probably culpable as well.
And then the mother cries. Oh, boy. Mom cries. This never had to happen. But Mom failed in her responsibility to protect her child and forced him into taking matters into his own hands. That's why everybody's being so protective of the kid: they know his family and society failed him. Why society? Well, I'll bet you'll find that the cops had been called to that house before, because Dad was whuppin' up on Mom. And I'll bet you'll find Mom never preferred charges.
Nobody who's not had an abusive father can truly understand this. I understand it. Kids in normal environments don't all of a sudden decide to grease the old man for no reason. As Minstrel Boy suggests, this may well have been a very sane action, given the circumstances.
Publius,
Like I say, let's get real about it and not be all shocked and everything. The mom wailing and gnashing her teeth and opposing the boy's being charged with anything suggests some deeper knowledge.
Everybody knows, but nobody can say. Shocked, they are.
If this is other than a little monster, an aberrant outlier, then let's talk about what that is. The King brothers (12 and 13) here in the Panhandle bludgeoned their father in 2001, but had been victims of sexual abuse and so received a reduced sentence.
Fr. the NYT: "The prosecutor and defense lawyers said the agreement held the boys accountable for their actions but combined punishment with the possibility for rehabilitation.
''What I wanted out of this case, I got,'' David Rimmer, the prosecutor, said. ''I got the truth. I also wanted them to take responsibility. This is the first step toward rehabilitation."
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