10-year-old accused of killing neo-Nazi father may pursue insanity defense

[celeb_2006]

10-year-old accused of killing neo-Nazi father may pursue insanity defense, his attorney says | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times


Photo: Jeff Hall holds a Neo Nazi flag while standing at Sycamore Highlands Park near his home in Riverside in October 2010. Credit: Sandy Huffaker / Associated Press.

An attorney for a 10-year-old boy charged with murder in the fatal shooting of his father, a local neo-Nazi activist, on Wednesday told a Riverside County Juvenile Court judge that the boy may pursue a defense of not guilty by reason of insanity.

The sandy-haired boy appeared in Juvenile Court shackled and wearing a bright orange shirt and khaki pants, with his stepmother, biological mother and grandmother sitting on a courtroom bench behind him. Judge Charles J. Koosed postponed the boy’s detention hearing for two weeks and ordered that he continue to be held at juvenile hall.

The boy has been charged as a juvenile for the shooting death of his father, Jeffrey R. Hall, a regional director for the National Socialist Movement. Hall was shot around 4 a.m. Sunday morning while on the living room couch. Detectives believe the shooting was an “intentional act."

Detectives with the Riverside Police Department said there were no reports of an argument or other incident before the shooting, and police have never responded to any domestic disturbance calls at the Hall residence. Hall, 32, has five children including two from a previous marriage.

According to court records the boy had a history of aggression and violence after his parents went through a bitter divorce, with both Hall and his ex-wife, Leticia Neal of Spokane, Wash., accusing each other of abusing and neglecting the children. Hall was granted full custody of the children.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Ambrosio E. Rodriguez said state laws protecting juveniles prohibits him from discussing the details of the case, but said the decision to charge the 10-year-old with murder was weighed by the agency’s leadership. Until the boy’s detention hearing is concluded, Rodriguez said he was also prohibited from discussing whether the boy ultimately would be prosecuted as a juvenile or an adult, or why such a serious charge was filed against him.

“To say this was a difficult decision is an understatement," Rodriquez said after Wednesday’s hearing. “Thank God patricide is not something that happens as a daily occurrence."

During the hearing, public defender Matthew Hardy told the judge that he expected the case to be a “long haul" and that the defense was considering an insanity defense. No plea was entered on Wednesday.

“There are some very, very difficult issues in this case," Hardy told the judge.

Neal told the judge that she may hire a private attorney to represent her son. She declined to comment after the hearing.

Last year Neal filed for custody of her two children with Hall, the 10-year-old boy and his 9-year-old sister, saying she was concerned about the children’s well-being because of the father’s affiliation with the neo-Nazi group. Hall had opposed the motion, saying that Neal had had no contact with the children for six years.

After Wednesday’s hearing the boy requested a visitation with this stepmother and grandmother.

[KrisNine]

Poor kid...sounds like a family full of winners.

[yanna]

Rodriguez said he was also prohibited from discussing whether the boy ultimately would be prosecuted as a juvenile or an adult...

What? That's even on the table for a 10 year old?

[Sarzy]

What? That's even on the table for a 10 year old?

Yep. That's happened in the US before. It's absurd. He's a kid, not an adult.

[SHELLEE]

One less piece of shit. As far as I'm concerned, the boy did humanity a big favor. Poor thing.

[Popsicle]

Legal age of responsibility is 10 and the age of reasoning judgment is 6.

[Novice]

And any kid that has been emotionally & physically abused (as each parent alleged), needs help not executing.

[Sarzy]

Legal age of responsibility is 10 and the age of reasoning judgment is 6.

Where this crime took place? I know 10 is the British age but didn't think it was that in the US.

[teforde23]

how bad is the mom if a judge would give full custody to a neo-nazi whackjob

[Novice]

Jewish World Review May 4, 2011 / 30 Nissan, 5771
Neo-Nazi leader is shot dead by son,10
By Phil Willon

Father was the Southwest leader of the National Socialist Movement, the nation's largest neo-Nazi organization, and would often take his children to events

Judaism: The Jewish site | (MCT) A 10-year-old Riverside, California boy charged with fatally shooting his father, local neo-Nazi leader Jeffrey R. Hall, had past problems with aggression and violence after being caught in the middle of a bitter divorce fraught with abuse allegations, court records show.
Legal experts said it was extraordinarily rare for such a young person to face a murder charge, and legal barriers prohibit detectives and prosecutors from discussing a juvenile case.
Investigators said the boy apparently retrieved a family handgun and shot his father about 4 a.m. Sunday on the living room couch. Police declined to say whether Hall was asleep at the time.
"We believe it was an intentional act," said Riverside police Lt. Ed. Blevins, "and we believe the 10-year-old was responsible."
Detectives "received some statements" about a possible motive, Blevins said, but declined to elaborate because the underlying cause of the attack is still under investigation.
There were no reports of an argument or other incident preceding the shooting, and police have never responded to any domestic disturbance calls at the Hall residence, Blevins said. Hall, 32, and his wife have five children, with the two oldest from Hall's previous marriage.
"Motive is the big question," Blevins said.
The boy is scheduled to appear before a Riverside County Juvenile Court judge this morning for a detention hearing. Both Blevins and the Riverside County district attorney's office declined to identify the boy, citing legal protections for juveniles.
"Anyone killing a parent is rare. Anyone at that age killing their parent is extremely rare," said Paolo Annino, a professor at the Florida State University School of Law and an expert in juveniles charged as adults. "These are cases our judicial system is not very good at. We usually don't want to hear why this happened."

Hall was the Southwest leader of the National Socialist Movement, the nation's largest neo-Nazi organization, and would often take his children to events, a colleague in the organization said.
The group most recently has targeted illegal immigrants, and Hall and other members had conducted their own patrols along the Mexican border. Hall also made headlines last year when he ran successfully for the local water board, the Western Municipal Water District.
The accused boy's biological mother, Leticia Neal of Spokane, Wash., on Tuesday said she had been pleading with the courts to grant her custody of their 10-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter after learning about her ex-husband's neo-Nazi ties. Neal, during the divorce proceedings nearly a decade ago, accused Hall of abusing their two children, but the charges were never substantiated.
"All I can tell you is that I begged and begged them to please let me have full custody," Neal said in a telephone interview.
Court records show that Hall had been granted full custody of his two children during their divorce. He had accused his ex-wife of abusing and neglecting their son and daughter during custody visits. But a Sept. 19, 2002, child protective services report filed in court stated that those allegations could not be substantiated.
Neal denied the allegations during the court proceeding, and she declined to comment on the matter Tuesday.
In January 2011, a Riverside County judge upheld Hall's full custody of the children, barring Neal from visiting the children. But Neal and her children were allowed to start undergoing reunification therapy.
In a Nov. 8 court filing opposing Neal's request, Hall stated that his son and daughter had not seen Neal for more than six years, and "not so much as received a phone call, card, birthday present" from their mother during that time. Hall also described his son's troubled past, saying he was just getting back on track.
His son "was removed from several schools for his wild and sometimes violent actions. Both (children) … struggled socially and academically when they were first placed with me," Hall stated.
The family's house, where Hall would often invite fellow neo-Nazis for gatherings, is on a well-trimmed cul-de-sac near the University of California-Riverside. A security camera on the second story monitors the front yard and driveway.
Jason Hiecke of New Jersey, a lieutenant in the National Socialist Movement who knew Hall, described him as a dedicated family man who would occasionally bring his young children to the group's events.
"The death of any member, especially somebody of his standards and high quality to the party, is always a loss," Hiecke said.

[witchcurlgirl]

Earlier this month, Riverside, Calif. police arrested a 10-year-old boy for the murder of his father, neo-Nazi leader and water board candidate Jeff Hall. At the time, police didn't attribute the motive. Now, a court declaration reveals details about the case — including why, and how, the boy killed his father. It doesn't make the story any less tragic, in case that's what you're thinking.

Apparently the fourth-grader — who, like his nine-year-old sister, knew where all of his parents' guns were kept — took a Rossi .357 revolver from a closet early one morning:

[Redacted] told Detective [Roberta] Hopewell that he went downstairs with the gun, pulled the hammer back, aimed the gun at his dad's ear while he was asleep and shot him. [Redacted] said he went upstairs and hid the gun under his bed.

As for why:

[Redacted]... admitted during the interview that he was tired of his dad hitting him and his [step-]mom. [He] said he thought his dad was cheating on his [step=]mom and thought he might have to choose which person he would live with.

The scene on the detective's arrival didn't paint a picture of domestic bliss, either. The Hall house was reportedly "filthy." "The bedrooms smelled like urine," the report explains, and the bedding — including the mattresses — was "stained and soiled." The decoration downstairs: A National Socialist Movement flag and a California Republic flag.


And the guns. The court document is part of a case against the boy's stepmother, Krista McCary, for child endangerment and failure to properly store a firearm; the detective account confirms that not only did Hall and McCary keep several weapons, but that "three out of the four children" knew the (easily-accessible) location of the .357 revolver.


Given the apparent physical abuse, where was Child Protective Services? According to the report, the agency had "numerous contacts" with the Hall-McCary household but "most of the allegations were unfounded" — reported as part of a "bitter child custody dispute" between Hall and his ex-wife. Clearly, CPS will be playing a role going forward. The boy, for his part, will go a court-ordered mental-health evaluation soon.


Ten-Year-Old Explains Why He Shot His Neo-Nazi Dad - Gawker

[SHELLEE]

I find this story to be so sad. The poor kids never had a chance to begin with. What a way to grow up.

[Janet296]

Insanity defense? He's 10 years old. Don't they take that into consideration?

[witchcurlgirl]

Boy who shot neo-Nazi dad is convicted of murder

The defense argued that growing up in a racist, abusive household gutted the child of moral agency

Two years ago a 10-year-old California boy shot his father, a neo-Nazi, at point blank range in the head. On Monday, the child, now 12, was convicted of second-degree murder and could remain in jail until he is 23-years-old.


The boy’s father, Jeff Hall, was a regional leader of the National Socialist Movement and, the court learned, brought his son up in a household plagued with violence and abuse. Although the judge determined that the boy shot his father with premeditated intent, the trial focused on whether the boy could possess moral agency. In neo-Nazi a household, in which a child learns that it is acceptable to abuse and kill perceived threats, can this child be expected to understand “right” from “wrong?”


As the LA Times reported, “Public Defender Matthew Hardy focused on the boy’s abusive home life, where gunplay and neo-Nazi gatherings were commonplace. Witnesses testified that Hall beat his son repeatedly, often in drunken or drug-addled rages.”


According to the AP, “The boy said in a videotaped interview with police that he didn’t think he’d get in trouble because he saw an episode of Criminal Minds in which a child killed an abusive father and wasn’t arrested.”


Although the judge recognized the defendant’s history of abuse, he ruled that the child was in a position to make a moral judgement. “Even with that background, the court must look at the facts of the case,” the judge said.


A separate hearing will be held to determine whether the boy should be sent to a juvenile detention center run by the state Department of Corrections, sent to an alternative treatment facility or placed on probation.


As the New York Times noted in 2011, the shooting “cast fresh light on the fringe group to which Mr. Hall devoted his life: the National Socialist Movement, the nation’s largest neo-Nazi party, whose message stands in surreal juxtaposition to the suburban, workaday trappings of many of its members.” Based in Detroit, the NSM has about 400 members in 32 states. Prior to Hall’s shooting, the Times were investigating the racist group and witnessed “virulent, hate-filled rallies as well as barbecues and baby showers in the backyard of Hall’s Southern California home,” where the young, newly convicted boy was raised.

[greysfang]

I don't know how I feel about this ruling. 10 is awfully young to be convicted of murder, but he was nurtured in such a toxic environment he may well be a little psycho already. At least he was convicted as a juvenile, so he will get out at 21.


ETA: This article says 23, so I guess that's the age of release in CA.