The “confession” of a child

I pray that this child is innocent–that he truly did not do this to his father!! God be with him and his family.

The same thing happened to my nephew in Savannah, Georgia. Some kids said he brought a knife to school the previous day. My TEN YEAR old nephew was called out of class, questioned by police and arrested all before his father or mother were even called.
This tragedy is unfortunate and my prayers goes out to the families of both the victims.
However, to keep from making situations like these worse and dragging families through unnecessary a roller-coaster of defendants and trials, police officers need to stick to their rules, our legal rights, to make everything easier and safer for all.
Now-a-days with forensic science/evidence, confessions rarely play a role in the minds of jurors. Therefore no interrogation should need to last longer than an hour and any such should be inadmissible! To me it's like a minor case of Stockholms Syndrome whenever "innocent until proven guilty" citizens are detained and questioned for lengthy periods of time. You can not even be sure to believe what they say is true when this occurs and I'm really tired of my tax dollars paying for lawsuits won by people wrongly jailed and convicted due to police bulling and attacking during interrogations; all due to some officers need to solve a case so he can run for police chief or mayor next year!
Even if this kid is guilty, I believe there is more to the crime and the reasoning for it than would ever be revealed during an interrogation by the police!

WHY didn't those officers call in Child Services IMMEDIATELY?
WHY isn't the FBI or some other higher authority now in charge?
WHY are these Keystone Cops still allowed to have guns & badges?

Another thing that might've happened is that the kid may have accidentally killed both of them.
But considering the fact that BOTH of them were shot, it does seem less likely that its an accident. Maybe though.

Why isn'i someone helping this child.

Does anyone remember Micheal Crowe, He was falsy accused of killing his sister Stephanie. He was interogated by the Escondido Police Dept. without a PARENT or GUARDIAN. Escondido Police got a FALSE confession, you hammer away at ANYONE long enough and they are going to tell you what you want to hear, weather it is the TRUTH OR NOT.

I go with free this child. Get him on tv like casey anthony, and get him a good lawyer. or is there no money to be made here.

I don't know why this is not investigated as a murder/suicide. Not enough is being revealed in this case. Was the father seperated from the mother? Was the father involved in a same-sex relationship with the other victim? Was there a love triangle? From what video I've seen of this kid, I'm convinced the child is being coerced. If this kid has never fired a gun before, even a 22 cal auto would be kindof scarey. Another thing . . . to kill with a small caliber like that, your shots should be well-placed. It would not be my weapon of choice to protect my home from a home invasion.

Wow. That's some pretty top-notch police work. Lock an 8-year old in room with two adults (the one who calls him "sweetie" must have been playing good cop), both wearing guns, and then work him until he cries and tells you what you want to hear. Very impressive for those two detectives to outwit the criminal mastermind before he had a chance to call his mommy.
In the first news release about this case, the police chief was quoted as saying, "We solved the crime, now we have to find out why." I think in this town, to be a cop you have to take a test. If you pass, you're out!
Then there's the prosecutor foaming at the mouth over his chance to make a name for himself by charging an 8-year old as an adult. What a guy! I always believed that if you scratch a prosecutor, you find a pervert, a criminal, or a criminal pervert. It's not normal to have an unquenchable thirst to punish people.

I am a resident of the state of arizona and it angers me that because of this 8 year old our state is being bashed for our gun laws. I grew up handling guns since I was a child and we were taught the proper handling of them. It saddens me to think that an 8 year old would be so angry to kill his father but that does not mean that all children exposed to guns are going to kill someone. I don't believe that you should give your children all access to them but I see nothing wrong with them handling them in a supervised setting.

I wonder if the police have any physical evidence that would make them suspect that the child did it. My experience has been that the police will blindly interrogate without a shred of evidence in hopes that the someone will confess. Too lazy to actually do some real detective work. I'm stunned that there are questions about trying the child as an adult. He's eight! Unbelievable.

I hope this child is treated like a child not a hard core chrimal.I think if you ask him if he plays video games he would say yes,The trash that chrildren are exposed to has a bearing on what they do I am an adult and would not play some of thoes games they see people getting shot in thes games and then the figure in the game comes back to life what does this tell a child? I would like to see the hole story behind this childs life.God Bless Him

.22 CALIBER RIFLE RECOIL

Does anyone know how much recoil a .22 caliber rifle would have? Would it leave bruising on an 8-year old?

I found a reference on Wikipedia saying a .22 rifle has a "light recoil" but I personally don't know enough about guns to interpret what that means. Members of my family trap shoot and they bruise up from the recoil.

Is there any physical evidence or is the charge based solely on the "confession"? If the latter, I don't understand how a Prosecutor could charge the boy–since it's so very easy to influence someone so young.

I don't understand why this has been made out to be such a huge deal without any news of a recovered gun...bullets....any form of evidence. With a gun and basic basic forensic work, the veracity of the charges could have already been determined, and THEN we would really know how much damage these ignorant officers have done. They're probably still getting reamed for their idiocy.

I agree that this child was "coercised" into saying he was guilty. This whole "confession" was done NOT accordingly to law. Any knowledgeable law inforcement official knows he needed a parent, lawyer, juvenile judge etc BEFORE questioning him. DNA or lie detector test should help this child or even a good therapist.

IF he did truly do this.......my question is WHY??? Something went wrong and wasn't caught by anyone to make an 8 yr old child KILL 2 people. Was it abuse??? Sexual, physical, mental, emotional by either man or both?? This is a child, and he shouldn't be tried as an adult in any case.

The jury pool is now tainted towards his guilt......he can't get a fair trail anywhere near his home. A Juvenile Judge needs to have a closed hearing on this and rule on FACTS and DNA.....then if guilty, a home for child/teens till 18 and his case sealed for adult time with a legal name change so he will have some semblance of a normal life as an adult. HIs scars will be life long now whether he is innocent or not.

Its funny how the boy was saying he didn't know anything until after the women stopped the tape, then told him God knows what, but I know for a fact a 8 year old child doesn't know what suffering even is, which tells me the lying cops told him what to say, just as they broke the laws by not having a parent or lawyer with the boy before pulling the stunt of making the boy admit to a crime they are too stupid to figure out by investigating the crime the right way. Why can cops break the law but we can't? They know its the law that rights have to be made, and a parent or lawyer should have been present, but it just goes to show you what lengths the police will go to just to make a case, even if it is a fake.

Watching the tape of that little boy, and noy being able to see his face, he sounded just like my 9 year old grandson....Who would tell you what you wanted to hear in that situation...It made me sick.

I’m the father of three kids myself, I do own a gun with the difference that I have common sense in not laying my gun around the house unlock.
I feel for the kid’s dad, but stupidity play a role in this tragedy and the only victim here is the kid himself. You have to be a moron to believe that that kid have the mental capacity to stand trial. He needs counseling and a lot of love from his mother.

Give me a break! This little boy was questioned without the benefit of having a parent or relative present, without a lawyer, and after watching the "interview", you can clearly see he started out saying he had nothing to do with it, and after the "officers" making suggestion after suggestion of "could you have shot him, etc.", he ends up "confessing" to something he did not do. WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? The "confession" needs to be completely thrown out. But now the child's mind is so confused WE MAY NEVER KNOW THE TRUTH. Thank goodness for forensics, because MAYBE, just MAYBE, after the bungled job the police did, maybe they can find something to prove the little one did not do it, and find the real monster who did!.

I hope this child is innocent too. Admittedly, I don't know the details of the case. Absolutely this child should not have been subjected to any questioning w/o his mother or lawyer or both. My youngest son was accused of something by several boys when he was in high school. He was underage so he was summoned to JC and of course I went with him. The JC person told him if he would just admit to it it would go away. Without going into details it was over an alleged phone call made to these two boys and racist comments being made. The boys lodged the complaint but never responded to the JC person about details. It is over but in the interim our local police delivered the legal papers to our house. My son was scared to death. He was very shy and I cant imagine he would have done such a thing. He refused to admit guilt because he said he didnt do it. The staffer than called our house when I wasnt home and tried to push my son into a decision. I went ballistic and let her know it. I can relate to the rush to judgement. These kinds of situations leave scars on the children – make no mistake about it.

I don't get this case. From day one didn't he confess? Now he just changes his story? I know he's just an 8 year old kid, but two innocent people are dead and I really do think its him.

Having been taught gun safety by my father who was an avid hunter, at the same time my mother was teaching me to talk, I have been a shooter/gun owner since my childhood. I was brought up with firearms in the house, but was taught never to touch them unless being supervised by my father.

As an adult, I joined the U.S. Marines, and served two tourss of duty in Vietnam where I used firearms virtually every day. On my discharge, I became a Deputy Sheriff, and carried firearms every single day for 23 years until my retirement. I can honestly say that in all this time, I have never witnessed, or even heard of, a firearm causeing the loss of life at anytime. People cause death, not guns. At present, I hold a valid, state issued Concealed Carry Permit, and I carry a gun every single day, and see no reason not to continue to do so.

We don't need new laws...we have enough laws as it is...what we don't have is either enforcement, or parential teaching. My guns can lay on my desk for the next hundred years, and never hurt a soul. Its not the guns, its people. Our 2nd Amendment rights have got to be protected from liberal politicians, the media, and everyone else who wishes to disarm America. Those rights are the only thing that prevents politicians from completely taking over America! No country on earth, where the citizens were armed, has ever been taken over, invaded, or suffered under a dictatorship.

Milton L. Black

I really think this is BAD police work, this child is only 8 , EIGHT, years old , he has only been walking and talking for about 6 years as it is, he is a child, and the proscecutor wanted him in jail for Thanksgiving!

He does belong with his mother and family, he needs love and support now more than ever, not a jail cell.

If the kids guilty he should be put in jail for the rest of his life,and not get out when he's 21. Kids know right from wrong by kindergarten. He's a murderer and he knew what he did was absolutely wrong. He should be put in jail for life with no ands, if, or buts.

Firstly, my condolences to the family, I can only imagine the grief and horror they are going through. The so called police interrogation was a complete debacle and totally inadmissable.

This has already sparked gun debates and with a liberal majority and liberal media hammering the issue, an unfortunate event such as this has given them fuel.

Several questions remain about the events surrounding the murder. To be included remain mental health, potentials of abuse, etc. So to immediately hop on the bus to get rid of guns, make gun use by minors illegal, let's be sensible.

The father contemplated with great deliberation, the matter of giving his son a gun. For those of us who are hunters and outdoorsmen, this is a bridge we will all cross. For that parent, it is an issue, not our courts. On an individual basis of maturity and responsibility, I, not the courts will decide when I will permit my children to have a gun. It is my, not the courts who will teach safety with that weapon to my children.

Don't let liberal sensationalism pre-empt the rights of Americans. Not necessarily even that of gun ownership, but the right to parent, teach, and share our heritage. As a parent, a gun owner, hunter, service member, and voter, I will take full responsibility for my children as well as when I decide they are mature and responsible enough for me to pass on the knowledge for safe gun ownership and operation.

Guns don’t kill people. People Kill People. People are killed with knives, ball bats, screwdrivers, hammers, ropes, martial arts, and various other items & means are we going to ban those as well? I’ll tell you a plain fact people who can’t defend their self’s are called VICTIMS. When it takes police 20 Minutes to respond to your call for help, and you can’t defend yourself your attacker decides if you live or die and how. I have noticed neighbors in trouble don’t run to the house where the passive no gun owner lives they run for the protection of the neighbor with the gun. As a retired police officer I’ve seen it to many times where people were seriously victimized only because they could not defend their self’s from an attacker. If someone is going to murder someone else they don’t need a gun to do it a hammer will work just fine. Banning guns will only embolden the criminal element in America, and produce more VICTIMS. As far as Jane goes that is by far the most irresponsible comment I’ve ever heard on CNN. That kid killed because that is what he chose to do. If he was determined to commit this crime, and didn’t have a gun to tilt the playing field in his favor he would have used another method. Furthermore we have not heard a motive so far WAS THE KID A VICTIM seeking revenge? Was the kid about to be victimized in some other way? We don’t know do we.

Why does the liberal Press always love such news? Mainly to egg on gun bans and more restrictions that do not address the real problem of "properly raising your children". A gun ban on Children? Now read the following news release from Michigan Today:
"GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) – Police in Grand Rapids say a 12-year-old girl stopped an attack on her mother by stabbing the woman's boyfriend.

The girl woke up early Friday to the alleged attack on her mother, grabbed a knife and stabbed the man in the arm."
Should we ban Kitchen knives too? Be reasonable and stop the un necessary hype then address the real problems in our society, most of which are created by the violence in the media which CNN is part of.

It's unusual for a child to be with his father if there is a mother around . Let's see if she can take better care of him . Everybody's crying foul ,so where's the evidence someone else did it . Obviously something led the police to suspect the boy .How many police are going to instantly think a child that age committed such a crime . Come on use your heads !

come on people, this is america we are all about guns. this 8 years old know how to use a gun, and he used one on his father,and another person, how very sad that so many do not want to see him face what he has done, to make excuse for him and his age. this is why we have so much crime in the usa. we make excuses for these kids and they go on to kill others, they do what is so common now they pick up a gun and kill to solve their problems. this kid should get help, but he should face the responsibility for what he has done. if he has killed two people at age 8, just how many he will have killed at age 18.
hattie

I sense a real storm of **** brewing around this case. Those cops were stupid in interrogating that little boy without a guardian, his mother, or a lawyer present. And of course after questioning him for hours on end is he going to confess to end the whole ordeal, believing that he will go back home to Mom. Those cops lied to him and violated his Constitutional rights. I bet those morons did not even bother to test his hands for gunshot residue to even see if he has fired a weapon! I hope this kid is found innocent and they get sued!

I am outraged at some of the press and comments I have seen. There is no proof that has been presented anywhere, other than this so-called confession, that this boy committed this crime. The only fact we know is that two grown men were murdered and we do not know who did it. Can you imagine what damage has been done to this child if he was NOT the murderer? He has been handcuffed, his ankles shackled and dragged into a courtroom. He was not permitted to attend his father's funeral. He has a whole country of morons talking about him. At this point he probably doesn't know if he did it or not, since these adults have convinced him that he did. If they had the right to release this video, I would certainly like to see the videos of the interviews with the Mom and the step mom, too. If it comes out that he is innocent I hope all of his accusers give him the help he is going to need to get over this. God bless and keep this little boy safe.

First of all; the police should know better than to interrogate a minor without an adult or lawyer present. Common sense. Second; the confession seems to be coerced and he seems to be lead in his account of what happened. However, if he would happen to be guilty I wonder why no one is looking into the father and his friends back ground. Did anyone stop to think that meybe one or the other or both may have been abusing the child? And where is the Mother? I would be outraged if I found that the police were or had questioned my child without representation by myself or an attorney. This is disgraceful.

CNN has done the best job of reporting this story. Quite frankly I am sick to death of the 'Killer Kid' and 'Chilling Confession' headlines that I am seeing on ABC news. How does anyone get a fair trial in this country with headlines like that. Thank you CNN for reporting this story with the responsibility and tactfulness we expect when we read the news. I'm boycotting abcnews.com.

8 years old..thats quite young!..the kid seemed to be scared or might have had fear to do something like that.Children to tend to say things that are not true when under pressure,this child needs a guardian while investigation.Nothing shall be assumed until all the evidences are proven and the child shall be given time and space to be on his own and say what is true.

Yes,an 8 year old is still a child and as such it is unacceptable behaviour. Do not get so sentimental though about a CHILD being involved in a murder as if this were impossible. Remember the two youngsters in England who lured the 2 year old boy away from his mother & bashed in his head. They murdered him. THey were put in a place of safety & have now been released. All the child murderers boggles the mind,but it was done for whatever reason. Had it been my child that was murdered, i would not be considering their age.Agreed that the police were too hasty but listening to the boy i have to admit he can lie.He sticks to his story ,then changes it when he thinks he is safe.
There is certainly more to this than is being reported at present. The parents had 8 years in which to detroy a human being. CHILDREN can be cruel and they learn from their first teachers,THEIR PARENTS

I am not sure I believe that this kid did the initial shootings. I don't believe enough attention is given to the fact that the boy said he found his dad bleeding initially. I do believe the boy shot the men to "put them out of there misery" in the boys eyes. But, I seriously dought the boy did all this on his own. I have a hard time believing it and it will be interesting the out come of this. Someone else is involved or the 2 men shot each other or something. Something else had to happen and the news media needs to bring up the fact that in that police enteregation that boy never said he initially shot the men. He said he found them that way. In which case, I don't believe the boy should be charged with murder. I think he saw something that he didn't understand and acted on fear and not knowing what to do. But, maybe not. It just seems like a lot is missing from this story.

to Kit above: The recoil of a .22 caliber long rifle (.22 LR) round is amazingly light. The shells themselves are easily less than the diameter of a pencil, . I'm a 23 year old boy, but I can comfortably rapidfire 17 such rounds without any rise in the barrel. A heavy enough gun can compensate for virtually all barrel rise, and the backward recoil can barely be felt through a jacket (I live in Wisconsin, when I go shooting in the winter I have to wear a heavy leather jacket to avoid the blustery weather and snow, and if I weren't for the noise I'm not sure I could tell the gun discharged at all).
The same round can be used in a pistol (I own two) and likewise they can be used in a "Rhodesian drill" rapidfire (shooting in a 2 shots, 1 shot pattern as rapidly as you can aim) exercise without any loss of accuracy on successive rounds, even in a light (under half a pound) semi-automatic pistol.

If your relatives go trap-shooting chances are they use a shotgun, either 16 or 12 gauge, which have, shall we say, significant recoil, being over half an inch in shell diameter, and usually about 3" long. They produce a large amount of recoil that will leave you black and blue, especially if you shoot a full round or two (20-40 rounds) of sport trap. Shotguns are large-bore smoothbarrel guns which use shells larger than a machinegun, albeit with less powder. The purpose is to throw a large number of small pellets (shot) into a pattern roughly the size of a dinner plate, to make it easier to hit a bird on the wing, or a clay pigeon.

8 years old.
A baby.
Tried as an adult?
When my children were 8, any adult in an authority situation intimidated them. They had been taught to respect their elders, do not argue, do not contradict, to do as they were told.
I think of them in this poor child's situation. I am very angry to know that they would not have had any 'adult' there to protect them. Only to abuse them, (again it would seem).
What is wrong with us as a society that we would do this to a child? I am ashamed of our court system.
They might as well have taken the child out into the street for a stoning and then beheading.

OMG!!! This poor boy. He was SPANKED/BEATEN 1000 times THIS YEAR!!! The poor child kept a log. If someone hit me that many times EVER I might consider defending myself also! What kind of a Parent was his Dad (I would NEVER call him a father, he was a brut!!!) A BULLY, OMG!!! This goes WAY beyond child abuse!!

I completely agree. Policy work was shotty at the least. The confession and the interrogation should be thrown out for procedural errors. The cops should know better and didn't care how they got this case closed. Now this child is a product of their outrageous desire to put him away and move on to the next case. Start investigating the household and I am sure you will find out what type of environment this child was living in. Beat/Spanked 1000 times is 1000 times too many. Something is not right with this entire case and should be thrown out. No parent or guardian present during questioning is a sin and against this child's rights....that alone is enough for case to be thrown out! Why is it allowed to proceed???

for those of you who keep making comments about "liberals" trying to get rid of guns: my boyfriend and i are very liberal and have several guns. so stop generalizing. that would be like me saying all you liberals are close minded....

Didnt this happen recently where a child was not given any representation at all and the so called `adults` in this police force cohercede a confession out of him. I was a documentary. The young boy began to believe he had done it.

WHERE were child services its against the law to question a minor with no parent in attendance in the U.K.

How could you say"this child could be a victim" this child is a victim. He is a victim of a crazy police force who questioned him without an attorney or parent. This has got to stop. There should be laws in place to protect our childrren. No child should be questioned without an attorney present. Children are too willing to please and easily confused they should never be questioned without someone looking out for them. There really should be laws in place.