A 10-year-old boy has been charged as an adult with homicide in the death of a 90-year-old woman.
Authorities said the child told state police that he killed her during a visit to his grandfather, at a home in which the victim also resided. However, the boy told police he was only trying to hurt her not kill her, when he held her cane to her throat and punched her. The alleged attack was sparked when the boy went into her room and she yelled at him. When the boy's grandfather checked on her shortly after the alleged attack, shek told him she was fine, but when he went back later, she was unresponsive.
The boy has been held at the county prison without bail since his arrest Saturday. On Wednesday, the boy's attorney, withdrew a petition to have his client released into his father's care or removed to a juvenile detention facility. His attorney said the family was not comfortable with having him released into their care right now, and noted the nearest juvenile detention facility is 80 miles away, making family visits inconvenient. His attorney further said that the boy is being housed alone in a cell, away from the general population and being given coloring books and other recreational opportunities.
1- Do you think a 10-year-old boy is old enough to stand trial for murder?
2- Should every state have a law specifically for juveniles who kill others?
3- What influences could this child have had in his short life that would explain why he acted this way? Is his family wrong to leave him in jail? What other things are going through your mind?