AP Exclusive: He was 8 when he killed. Now, probation to end
So..has justice been served? This child killed two people....in cold blood--does he deserve a 2nd chance?
He's 18 now--he's going to date someone's daughter---work and live next to people who know nothing about his past. Is this a good thing..or not?
What of the victim's families..have they received justice? Can there be 'justice' in a case such as this?
"The call came in to police dispatch just after 5 p.m. on a cold November evening in the small Arizona town of St. Johns: There was a body on the front porch of a house.
Detective Debbie Neckel fastened her bulletproof vest and headed out. As she and Sgt. Lucas Rodriguez approached the blue two-story home, Neckel fixed her eyes on two people, a teenager and an 8-year-old boy standing nearby.
Rodriguez walked toward the house, and Neckel toward the boy, whom she knew from the neighborhood. His arms were outstretched, and he was near tears.
"'My dad, my dad. My dad's dead,'" Neckel recalled him saying as she gave her first interview about the case to The Associated Press. "'I think my dad's dead.'"
The boy's father, Vincent Romero, 29, was found face-down on the staircase inside. The body on the porch was Romero's friend and co-worker, Timothy Romans, 39, who rented a room there.
A swirl of suspects would emerge before a truth was revealed that no one saw coming: The 8-year-old killed both men.
The child came home Nov. 5, 2008, and killed his father with a single-shot .22-caliber rifle, holding the bullets in his small hand to reload after each shot. He called to Romans that something was wrong, then shot him, too.
Nine years later, the boy is days from his 18th birthday with a chance to move on from a crime that has defined his life. He will sign paperwork Friday freeing him from intensive probation, psychological evaluations, travel restrictions and having his every move monitored.
"Things will be fundamentally different," said his attorney, Ron Wood.
The transition will be easier because of the support network he built since pleading guilty to negligent homicide in Romans' death, said Wood and Apache County Attorney Michael Whiting, who prosecuted the case.
The charge for killing his father was dropped. Whiting said at the time that it was in the boy's best interest not to be forced to acknowledge killing his father.
The boy first was held at a youth treatment center near Phoenix, then moved to a group home and then a foster home. Besides a trio of probation violations when he was 12, he's avoided trouble. He will likely stay in the foster home beyond his 18th birthday and continue treatment until he's 21, Whiting said."
So..has justice been served? This child killed two people....in cold blood--does he deserve a 2nd chance?
He's 18 now--he's going to date someone's daughter---work and live next to people who know nothing about his past. Is this a good thing..or not?
What of the victim's families..have they received justice? Can there be 'justice' in a case such as this?
"The call came in to police dispatch just after 5 p.m. on a cold November evening in the small Arizona town of St. Johns: There was a body on the front porch of a house.
Detective Debbie Neckel fastened her bulletproof vest and headed out. As she and Sgt. Lucas Rodriguez approached the blue two-story home, Neckel fixed her eyes on two people, a teenager and an 8-year-old boy standing nearby.
Rodriguez walked toward the house, and Neckel toward the boy, whom she knew from the neighborhood. His arms were outstretched, and he was near tears.
"'My dad, my dad. My dad's dead,'" Neckel recalled him saying as she gave her first interview about the case to The Associated Press. "'I think my dad's dead.'"
The boy's father, Vincent Romero, 29, was found face-down on the staircase inside. The body on the porch was Romero's friend and co-worker, Timothy Romans, 39, who rented a room there.
A swirl of suspects would emerge before a truth was revealed that no one saw coming: The 8-year-old killed both men.
The child came home Nov. 5, 2008, and killed his father with a single-shot .22-caliber rifle, holding the bullets in his small hand to reload after each shot. He called to Romans that something was wrong, then shot him, too.
Nine years later, the boy is days from his 18th birthday with a chance to move on from a crime that has defined his life. He will sign paperwork Friday freeing him from intensive probation, psychological evaluations, travel restrictions and having his every move monitored.
"Things will be fundamentally different," said his attorney, Ron Wood.
The transition will be easier because of the support network he built since pleading guilty to negligent homicide in Romans' death, said Wood and Apache County Attorney Michael Whiting, who prosecuted the case.
The charge for killing his father was dropped. Whiting said at the time that it was in the boy's best interest not to be forced to acknowledge killing his father.
The boy first was held at a youth treatment center near Phoenix, then moved to a group home and then a foster home. Besides a trio of probation violations when he was 12, he's avoided trouble. He will likely stay in the foster home beyond his 18th birthday and continue treatment until he's 21, Whiting said."
