12-Year-Old Faces 9 Charges In Parents' Death

BURLINGTON, Colo. — New documents released Monday in the case of a 12-year-old Colorado boy accused of fatally shooting his parents and wounding two siblings show prosecutors filed nine charges against him, including two counts of first-degree murder.

The documents released by a judge at the request of prosecutors also offer new details from investigators alleging the boy tried to hurt his 5-year-old sister with a knife and stabbed and shot his 9-year-old brother. The Denver Post and KUSA-TV report that the documents were released after a closed court hearing.

Police said they found the bodies of Charles and Marilyn Long on March 1 after the body called 911 to report a shooting at their Burlington home, about 140 miles east of Denver and near the Kansas state line.

Prosecutors have not decided whether to charge the boy as an adult.

The case is still under a gag order, which prevents officials from discussing the case. However, the ruling by a Kit Carson County judge will allow for some aspects of the case to be public, including the charges filed and hearing dates. The court proceedings are still closed to the media and the public. The court documents outlining the specific charges – and the details of what investigators said happened – had been sealed until Monday.

KUSA-TV said 13th Judicial District Attorney Bob Watson told the media he decided to release some information to address rumors.

"Between the social networking, Facebook, Twitter, various blog sites, the information is out there pretty quick and quite often that information is absolutely wrong," Watson said. He said the case "is a matter of important public concern."

The boy's siblings are expected to recover from their injuries.

Charles and Marilyn Long, both in their early 50s, had seven children. Four are grown and no longer live at home. Marilyn Long homeschooled her kids and ran the children's ministry at the local Evangelical Free Church. Her husband served as a church elder and was a snack delivery driver.

The couple was buried Friday.

Comments

[RockyMissouri]

10:23 AM on 03/16/2011

@wakawaka: I agree with every word!

[Matilija]

04:11 PM on 03/15/2011

The particulars - abuse, religious influence, mental illness - are unknown. They are also irrelevant to the question of process.

A preteen does not have an adult's ability to understand consequences. Any parent can tell you this. This makes retributive punishment - a counterproductive penal technique for adults - completely meaningless.

A 12-year-old also has virtually no rights to privacy or speech, control over his health care, education or living situation. These are the province of parents. We institutionalize parents' authority over children because adults are considered competent while children are not; it is hypocritical to simultaneously deny children any meaningful agency because they are immature and then demand from them an adult's level of responsibility for their actions.

There are options besides having dangerous children (and there are some) either run loose or be locked away with adults who are both predatory and able to mentor the youth in further crime. There are secure facilities for the disturbed child and experienced, competent caretakers - and they are a whole lot cheaper than a cell on death row.

The US is the only country to imprison children for life without the possibility of parole. This is a violation of human rights under the UN Conventions on the Rights of the Child, a treaty which only the US and Somalia have refused to sign:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/25/us-boy-accused-murder-appeals

U!S!A! U!S!A! U!S!A!

[igdoodle]

04:39 PM on 03/15/2011

Does a preteen have the ability to understand that shooting and killing someone is wrong?

[Matilija]

05:01 PM on 03/15/2011

Reread my post. I said nothing of a child's understanding of right and wrong, merely his ability to understand consequences.

[imtruthmonger]

09:57 PM on 03/15/2011

As with any controversy, facts help immeasurably. Thanks for positively adding to the discussion here.

Fan #4
(Faved too!)

[robinree]

11:41 AM on 03/15/2011

Such an unfathomable crime. I may be naive but the idea that a twelve year old could do something like that is hard for me to wrap my mind around. Of course he hasn't been proven guilty in court so we should withhold judgment. I'm just glad the injured children will survive and have grown siblings who will (hopefully) be able to care for them now that their parents are gone.

[imtruthmonger]

02:42 PM on 03/15/2011

The family's adult surviving children should shed a very bright light on how the boy's upbringing may have had patterns that were common to theirs. I am convinced there is a strong possibility that the ultimate answer may lie with them.

[nypapajoe]

10:38 AM on 03/15/2011

There is no treatment plan for this kid!

[The Commish]

10:00 AM on 03/15/2011

Very sick kid, but aside from stating the obvious, I have to withold judgement until more facts come out.

[justin7122]

10:25 AM on 03/15/2011

I know, he was probably a liberal who liked Obama.........

[NoahVail]

10:33 AM on 03/15/2011

But I thought Obama was going to take all the guns away.  I am so confused—  better go to Beck University and see what Glenn thinks.

[GraphicMatt]

10:00 AM on 03/15/2011

Maybe they'll go with the "he was bombarded with evangelicalism" defense.

[baybeebluz]

09:40 AM on 03/15/2011

We will have to wait and see what the home situation was before we judge this kid. If they find out there was abuse going on, he should not be charged as an adult. Abuse from a young age can completely warp a child. Only time will tell.

[KDMac]

09:47 AM on 03/15/2011

I'd think the older "children" should be able to shed some light on the family situation.

[imtruthmonger]

10:01 AM on 03/15/2011

Agreed.

[homer winslow]

09:40 AM on 03/15/2011

Police said they found the bodies of Charles and Marilyn Long on March 1 after the body called 911 to report a shooting

The body called 911??????

This is the problem with the death of traditional media. In the good old days, when newspapers were still relevant, such typos would not have made it into print. This site is especially lax in this respect. There is more to journalism than just reporting the news. What happened to our standards?

[imtruthmonger]

09:43 AM on 03/15/2011

We have spell-checkers and electronic thesauruses, but no context checkers...yet.

[Erewhon7]

09:48 AM on 03/15/2011

Absolutely correct. Faved,
Tho' intelligent people people don't mind coming here to vent, but ignore the volunteer intern writing.
No wonder AOL loves the business model.

[GraniteSkyline]

09:39 AM on 03/15/2011

I'm waiting for the "if the 5 and 9 year-olds had had guns with which to defend themselves, this tragedy could have been avoided" crowd to chime in.

[Coldhandluke]

10:02 AM on 03/15/2011

Thanks for adding that. I enjoy digging for relevant information.

[NoahVail]

10:29 AM on 03/15/2011

"Marilyn Long homeschooled her kids and ran the children's ministry at the local Evangelical Free Church. Her husband served as a church elder..."

I am waiting for Jesus to return and tell us what he thinks of all that is done in his name.  But I am not holding my breath.

[igdoodle]

09:31 AM on 03/15/2011

@thinkingwomanmillstone: The simple definition of a barbarian: "A fierce, brutal, or cruel person - uncivilized". This sounds more like the 12 year-old don't you think?

Those of us who say he should suffer the consequences of his egregious actions are absolutely NOT the barbarians.

[imtruthmonger]

09:39 AM on 03/15/2011

"Those of us who say he should suffer the consequenc­es of his egregious actions are absolutely NOT the barbarians­."
__________________________

And the group you officially represent is?

[igdoodle]

09:42 AM on 03/15/2011

The group that disagrees with you and your definition of barbarian.

[homer winslow]

01:50 PM on 03/15/2011

Probably the Good Christian group who are to blame for most of the hate in the world today.

[Linds West]

10:36 AM on 03/15/2011

and the consequences should be that he should "fry in the chair"? sounds uncivilized to me.

[igdoodle]

10:53 AM on 03/15/2011

Would lethal injection be more civilized? I'm not necessarily advocating the death penalty here because I think we should hear more about the circumstances leading up to it to make that leap. But with the information that we do have, I have a hard time not seeing him imprisoned for the rest of his life.

[April Pells]

09:28 AM on 03/15/2011

Micheal Myers much?

[KDMac]

09:48 AM on 03/15/2011

You got that right. Scary....

[Mr MOTO]

09:27 AM on 03/15/2011

"after the body called 911 to report a shooting at their Burlington home"

HP, maybe you should think about that 'unpaid i.n.t.e.r.n.' policy.

[KIVPossum]

09:41 AM on 03/15/2011

They said hupo hired a bunch of new editors. Don't know why they refuse to proofread their articles

[JtownesquireAgain]

09:16 AM on 03/15/2011

Can't wait for the stories of sexual and physical abuse to come out. You know it's coming. Either as a defense tactic or because it is true. Either way...it is coming!

[foolishness]

10:59 AM on 03/15/2011

I'm sure it's there. There's no other reason, other than some sort of chemical imbalance mood disorder, that the KID would have acted this way. My problem with the physical/sexual abuse hypothesis though is that he attacked his younger siblings as well.

[wakawaka09]

08:04 AM on 03/15/2011

Alot of rage from such a young kid. Something profound took place in that home for quite some time, I imagine.

[imtruthmonger]

08:34 AM on 03/15/2011

Absolutely.

Kids his age tend to think in very black and white ways. Often, their vivid imaginations have an exceedingly difficult time separating reality from fantasy. My thoughts move towards a mixture of home-schooled religion and limited association with other children/adults as central to his confusion between reality/fantasy, right/wrong.

[justin7122]

08:47 AM on 03/15/2011

Don't dump on home-schoolers. This is a messed-up kid, but it seems a lots of family tragedies that involve killing the kids or kids killing parents tend to lean toward those "religious" families.......

[wakawaka09]

05:41 PM on 03/15/2011

I grew up in a similar household, parents were very christian and very conservative of belief. My siblings and I were hidden from the outside world. As a young adult I thought in error that my parents had tried to shelter us from the world so as to protect us. With maturity and the insight it offers, I came to realize my parent were actually keeping us in hiding, so as to protect themselves.

[KDMac]

09:49 AM on 03/15/2011

Did anyone say that about the kid who killed his mom because she told him to turn off the video game?

[wakawaka09]

05:32 PM on 03/15/2011

Something is profoundly wrong when a "model kid" who is lauded by those who know him suddenly and with extreme prejudice attempts to eliminate his entire family. Unless you're envoking satan or claiming the kid is demon possessed, then we have to look to human impulse. And let's face it, 12 year olds don't typically attempt to wipe out their families, including younger siblings. There is a rage there that defies typical childhood fits of temper.
Now as far as the kid who killed his mom over a video game, I'm guessing there's more going on there as well.

[AndyWright68]

06:51 AM on 03/15/2011

Charge him as an adult? He's not an adult!

[Linds West]

08:23 AM on 03/15/2011

I am inclined to think that this must have been something the boy had been planning on doing for some time. I would think that he must show no remorse, I doubt (but don't know) that the prosecutors are happy about the idea of charging him as an adult.
Do you really think someone who murdered 2 people and tried to murder two smaller children should only be put away for 6 years?
It's a horrible crime that must have incredibly horrible circumstances that we as the public no nothing about.

[Chazz27]

08:44 AM on 03/15/2011

He is still a child. We need to learn how to deal with children this age that commit crimes like this. Treating them as an adult makes no sense since they don't process things the way an adult does. Who knows what the problem was. I am familiar with a similar situation many years ago. They tried the boy as an adult (murdered his grandfather) but they shouldn't have.

[Salty too]

09:30 AM on 03/15/2011

So if he had a problem with his parents why would he try to kill the other children? This kid should be put away for life.

[imtruthmonger]

08:36 AM on 03/15/2011

Treating him as an adult would be barbaric. This child belongs in a closely monitored treatment facility.

[igdoodle]

09:17 AM on 03/15/2011

What he did is barbaric.