12-year-old Arizona boy guilty in mom's shooting

SIERRA VISTA, Ariz. — A 12-year-old boy who fatally shot his mother after an argument over his chores was found guilty of premeditated murder.

Judge James Conlogue found the boy guilty after a hearing Friday in Cochise County Superior Court in the southern Arizona town of Bisbee. The boy is not being identified because he was charged as a juvenile.

Conlogue ruled that prosecutors had proved the boy acted intentionally and with premeditation when he shot Sara Madrid, 34, eight times on Aug. 1. The shooting happened after the boy had argued with his mother over his chores.

Madrid had left the family home after the argument, and the boy got a .22-caliber pistol from her bedroom closet, waited for her to return and then repeatedly shot her, according to court testimony.

Madrid's live-in boyfriend of 10 years, Alfonso Munoz, witnessed the shooting and said the boy gave him the empty gun afterward.

Munoz, who helped raise the boy, said he had taught the child how to use the weapon for emergencies and self-defense.

The boy's lawyer, Sanford Edleman, had argued that the boy did not intend to kill his mother but only wanted to get back at her for abusing him.

Police said the boy told them his mother yelled at him and slapped him.

Madrid's sister, Ernestine Huitron, testified Friday that Madrid did not want the boy to live with her, and that Madrid had a temper and yelled at him.

"He is a docile, sweet boy," Huitron said. "Sara said (the boy) was stupid and dumb."

Prosecutors wanted the boy tried as an adult, but the judge ruled the case should remain in juvenile court after a psychologist and psychiatrist testified that he suffered physical and verbal abuse from his mother and could be rehabilitated in the juvenile justice system.

Under Arizona law, the boy can only be held until he turns 18. Sentencing is set for Jan. 23.

___

Information from: Sierra Vista Herald, http://www.svherald.com

Comments

[CC1]

05:40 PM on 01/05/2009

Either the kid or the mom's boyfriend committed the murder. Find out who did it, convict him and lock him up. I just hope some stupid attorney doesn't use that "disadvant­aged youth" crap as a defense.

[MamaBird62]

12:45 AM on 01/05/2009

If you see a child who appears to lack empathy for the pain and suffering of others, say something to an adult who can help that child. It all starts there. Kids are fully capable of commiting crimes like murder, but they don't always understand the finality of it all.
Keep kids away from violent TV, movies and video games, they have no benefit for any developing mind.

[closfree]

11:20 PM on 01/04/2009

If the boy shot his mother with a .22 caliber pistol, why does the article picture a .45 Caliber pistol?

Or am I missing something?
CN

[shanefish]

03:52 PM on 01/05/2009

The .45 looks scarrier?

[citizensrus]

11:05 PM on 01/04/2009

We need to stop these arbitrary rules for when one can be tried as an adult, regardless of the crime. I know these rules were used because many adults in gangs would recruit under age minors and have them take the rap for murders they did, because they would be tried as minors.
But, look how many cases are not gang related but very disturbed juvenile minds. Regardless of how the justice system wants to treat this, they are juvenile minds, indisputab­ly. Too young to marry, too young to be drawn into a binding contract, too young to work as adult in the labor field, too young to sign up for the military, too young to drink. Yet, they can be tried as an adult? The fact is try them as adult, they are not adults and everyone knows this then as a lie. Some justice. In Arizona the prosecutor­s were looking to try an 8 year old as an adult on the count of premeditat­ed murder of his father and his neighbor.
http://www­.huffingto­npost.com/­susan-mern­it/abused-­and-charge­d-with-m_b­_147604.ht­ml

[shanefish]

03:53 PM on 01/05/2009

Arizona, the land of outlaws.

[MamaBird62]

10:46 PM on 01/04/2009

The prosecutor in this case stikes me as an A-1 a-hole.
He wanted a 12 year old tried as an adult?

[rogerz]

11:09 PM on 01/04/2009

Well they are also going after the 8 year old Arizona boy as an adult so don't be to shocked.

[getalong]

10:13 PM on 01/04/2009

Hmm...

Maybe we shouldn't train kids how to kill with guns in self-defen­se. Perhaps we should wait until they are older?

And maybe we shouldn't leave the gun lying around like that. Perhaps a lock would do?

And maybe we should have strict gun control in this country rather than turning a blind eye to the problems that guns cause...

...nah. Forget that last one. What am I thinking.

That would be crazy.

[meeneecat]

09:54 PM on 01/04/2009

How come this boy is being tried at a juvenile and the other 16 year old girl is being tried as an adult. It seems if your a child you should be tried as a child. If you're an adult, you're tried as an adult. Our (un)justic­e system needs to be totally dismantled­.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

10:04 PM on 01/04/2009

Because one was 12 and one was 16?

[Mort]

10:10 PM on 01/04/2009

Younger and abused.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

09:33 PM on 01/04/2009

Botched defense.
It was easy to prove the kid laid in wait.
It might have been tougher to prove he knew -- in the moment -- what he was doing was wrong; and that at age 12, abused, and pissed off, he had the mental capacity to willfully decide to murder.
Welcome to court-appo­inted lawyers in Arizona.

[bbriani3842]

09:16 PM on 01/04/2009

Yeah, what a real abuser. HOW DARE SHE MAKE THAT BOY DO ANY CHORES? Who does she think she is?

[devans00]

11:20 PM on 01/04/2009

His mother?

[raymurt]

09:16 PM on 01/04/2009

she'd still be alive if she was packin'!

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

09:21 PM on 01/04/2009

She was shot with her own gun, eh?

[309blank]

08:48 PM on 01/04/2009

this story is so absurd i don't even know where to start

[foolchild0]

07:52 PM on 01/04/2009

With children in the house, all weapons need to be kept in a lockbox...­not that that boy shouldn't go to jail.

[CalexenderJ]

07:44 PM on 01/04/2009

Wait a tic... He shot her 8 times (but didn't mean to kill her) because she wanted him to wash some dishes????­?????? Holy Crap. Yeah I would say some jail time is in order.

[HIbbs4Prez]

07:27 PM on 01/04/2009

Only in America.

[Merckx]

07:52 PM on 01/04/2009

No, unfortunat­ely this happens all over the world.
Don't beat your kids.

[eremite]

08:30 PM on 01/04/2009

Yeah it never happens in Mexico where this family probably comes from.

[playchessordie]

11:16 PM on 01/04/2009

what an incredibly ignorant assumption­!

[adey]

07:26 PM on 01/04/2009

One more time, for those who haven't figured it out.

A spanking is a punishment for misbehavio­r. A beating is an over-the-t­op spanking, more about the parent's emotion than the degree of the child's misbehavio­r.

Abuse is when the "punishmen­t" occurs for the parent's gratificat­ion, not for the sake of teaching anything to the child.

A "temper tantrum" is what a child throws when he/she doesn't get what he/she feels entitled to.

This boy did not "throw a tantrum" because he "got a spanking." He had a huge, horrific overreacti­on to a lifetime of abuse. Anyone wonder what he thought would happen to him when she got home? Anyone wonder why the boyfriend was close enough to be handed the gun but not close enough to stop it? So many have called the kid a monster. Maybe the mother was HIS monster.