Lawyers Drop One Murder Charge Against Boy

(CBS/AP)  The Apache County Attorney is seeking to dismiss one of two murder charges against an 8-year-old boy who is accused in the shooting deaths of his father and another man.

The motion filed late Friday seeks the dismissal of the first-degree murder charge stemming from the death of the boy's father, 29-year-old Vincent Romero. The boy is also charged with first-degree murder in the death of 39-year-old Tim Romans, Romero's roommate.

The motion explicitly allows the refiling of the charge if it is granted.

The prosecutor's office wouldn't explain its actions. The boy's defense attorney, Benjamin Brewer, declined to comment Friday, citing a gag order in the case.

Police in the small eastern Arizona town of St. Johns allege that the boy killed both men with a .22-caliber rifle in their home on Nov. 5.

A well-known Arizona defense lawyer not involved in the case said there could be many reasons why a charge would be dismissed.

"There's some reason legally or factually that they don't want to proceed with that murder at this time - and that normally means there's something they need to investigate further - the case is not ready to proceed," Tucson attorney Mike Piccarreta said.

Romero and Romans were found dead Nov. 5.

Police say the boy confessed to the killings. But he gave conflicting accounts of the shootings in an hourlong video of his interview with authorities in St. Johns.

A 12-minute segment of the video was posted Nov. 17 on Phoenix television station KTVK's Web site. The station said it got the video from the prosecutor's office in Apache County, where the shootings occurred.

But a legal analyst on CBS' The Early Show Thursday called the police interrogation "absurd."

"What we know is that children under 12 are especially susceptible to questioning by an adult," legal analyst Lisa Bloom said.

"I think I shot my dad because he was suffering, I think," the boy said toward the end of the hour-long interrogation, though Bloom notes that the admission comes only after repeated officer questioning.

"Children tell authority figures what they think the authority figure wants to hear," said Bloom. "This child was not Mirandized; there was no attorney for him in that room; there was no parent or legal guardian. He was simply answering questions by two police officers in uniforms with guns."

A defense attorney, Benjamin Brewer, has said police overreached in their questioning of the boy, who was not represented by a family member or lawyer during the interview.

On Wednesday, a judge ruled that the boy will be allowed to spend the Thanksgiving holiday next week with his mother, a move that drew criticism from the family of the second victim.

St. Johns police Chief Roy Melnick has said he would push for the boy to be tried as an adult, though some analysts think even a juvenile court trial would be too much.

"Children this age believe in the tooth fairy, they believe in magic … it's absurd," said Bloom. "This child should not be in juvenile court or adult court, in my opinion. He should be a ward of the family court and get some social service attention."

Authorities and the defense attorneys have been unable to answer questions about the case since the court issued a gag order.

A status conference in the case has been scheduled for Dec. 8.

[conspiracygirl]

I have to wonder if the interrogators deliberately chose to interrogate this kid without an attorney present SO that the case would be tossed out....

I mean, any police officer knows better than that!

The prospect of trying a child is an adult is obscene. The reason we try kids as kids is because they do not have the same capacity for reason as adults. You can''t just arbitrarily claim a kid does have such capacity when the crime is an especially bad one. This child obviously did not have much capacity for reason.

[paulzfun]

This story makes me ashamed to be American. Watching 2 armed police officers interrogating a tiny 8 year old boy for six hours without legal representation or a parent in the room. Then to add insult to injury, they release the tape to the media after charging this boy as an adult for two counts of 1st degree murder! The cops and prosecutors should be fired!!! Yes I know they dropped one count, but they STILL want to try this little boy as an adult. HOW could anyone be so retarded? He would have said he shot JFK to make the questioning stop. OMG, what a cruel world we live in. Why would an 8 year old boy have access to a loaded pistol anyway? I think the father made the mistake that cost his own life.

[armydog2]

The so called confession needs to be tossed out by the courts, this boy was not afforded his rights. No miranda rights, no attorneyt, and no adult there for this child. this is all fubar!!!

[hillarynow]

There are some very obvious things just glaring out at us all. First off, he is a little kid. I was stunned at the suggestions of "Should he be tried as an adult?" My God, what kind of idiot would even ask such an utterly ridiculous question? The one big question we should be asking is, why on Earth did this man, his father, put a gun in the young child''s hand and teach him how to use it? that is absolutely insane. Even a BB gun at that age is serious danger. He needs help, alot of it and if they even think about actually prosecuting this little boy who had some seriously bad role modeling to say the least, it will be a bigger tragedy than the two murders themselves, end of story. Get this misled, confused little boy some serious help long term and give him back to his mother when he is rehabbed and ready, period. Live and learn.

[soshocked]

This is one of the saddest stories I have read about and tried to follow in a long time. My son is around the same age and I know that if he were interrogated in that same manner, he would have eventually done the same, and answered the way the uniformed officers wanted him to. I don''t buy for a minute that this 8 year old shot his father and his roommate. For the first 15 min of the video the boy stated repeatedly what happened and NOT in the ''UMM I think'' mode as his so called confession. Terminations at the police dept should be expected. Supposably this boy reloaded a rifle 9 times around the two adult males and killed them both?? Right. Now he is in Juvenile jail not eating and/or sleeping right, no bedtime stories or goodnight kisses. He has just lost his father and most likely will be uprooted to Mississippi and have a complete life alteration. When he gets to go home, what will become of him now? The justice system has made him think he is something he is not, I hope his mother has the strength she will need for them both to overcome this so he can live a normal, fulfilling, honest life and does not become what the justice system already thinks he is. If it were me, and one of my children, my arrangements for leaving this country on Thanksgiving day would be made and we would not return until they figure it out. Unbelievable!!

[sebel22-2009]

This child was taken advantage of. The two police officers should be punished for what they did. This boy needs to be seen by a psycologist to determine if he committed the murders or not. Personally I don''t think the kid did it, but thinks everyone thinks he did so he might as well admitt to it. Poor little boy. If the child did do it...why? Was there abuse that he couldn''t handle anymore or what was going on for him to do such a thing? I hope they find out what really happened and get the boy any help he might need.

[klewt]

Remember Michael Crowe? The 12 year-old California child "confessed" in great detail to killing his sister. A year later, DNA evidence proved the killer was a deranged drifter that several neighbors had reported seeing on the street that night.
We have to put real penalties in place when police and district attorneys commit these atrocities against children. If they know they are facing a stiff penalty, they may think twice about violating a child''s civil rights.

[httpwwwnews]

No matter if he did it or not...he wasn''t read his rights, he''s a minor and was led, with no attorney present. His rights were clearly violated. End of case. Discipline the cops for not following lawful procedures.

[slim1h2o]

Posted by Evian_Ycnan at 07:54 AM : Nov 23, 2008

Ah yes, nothing beats the steady hand, a sharp eye of youth.

Except the the wisdom of an elder, with fuzzy eyesight, and unsteady hand.

[evian_ycnan]

BTW. That''s all speculation about a second weapon.

But if this kid did use his rifle, he`s GOOD. It`s a single shot. No magazine. Each round must be placed by hand in the breach.