Abused and charged with murder: 8-year-old boy shoots & kills father and family friend after 1,000th spanking

If you are 8 years old and you have received 1,000 spankings since you were old enough to start counting them, what does that mean?

It could mean you'd been recording them for 3 years, since you learned to write in kindergarten, or that you'd been recording them for a year, since you were seven and learned how to carry forth numbers in addition. If you'd been recording them since you were five, that would mean you'd been spanked almost once a day for the past 3 years, with 95 days off from getting your butt hit. If you'd started keeping track of the spankings when you were seven, which mean you were being hit more than 3 times a day for the past year.

Think about it. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, spanking. Every day for three years. Or, breakfast, spanking, dinner, spanking, before bed, spanking--spankings happening more frequently to this child per day than many people spent walking their dog.

Can you imagine living your life knowing that every day, at some point--perhaps more than once--a beating was going to happen? And that your father, responsible for mentoring you and your upbringing, was going to be the one to lay it on? Flat of the hand, paddle, belt, kitchen implement--did it matter after a while what your Dad hit you with?

Or was it just the consistent searing drip of the days, held together by having your pants pulled down and your butt beaten--not only by your Dad, but by his friend, a man who rented a room in their house.

How bad could any child be--any person--that someone could justify beating him, day after day?

If this isn't child abuse, I don't know what is.

If you think I'd strongly consider handing this eight year old the shotgun he is accused of picking up and using to fire two rounds each into Dad and his pal, you're reading me right.

And when I realized that this child--who doesn't live with his Dad full time--managed to score all these beatings from a monster who had only partial custody, I'd consider shooting this abuser myself.

For me, reading the news reports about this story underscores how powerless children are and how powerful the family is. In every account reported on this tragedy, the child's grandma is reported to have said, on hearing the news, "'I knew this would happen. They were too hard on (the boy). I knew (he) did it. He spent the night in my bed cuddling up to me. I had a feeling he did it. If any eight year old boy is capable of doing this, it's (him).

Which do you think would be more likely to cause Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome? Being an 8 year old who is spanked daily or multiple times a day by your father and stepmother and their friend, or doing a tour of duty in the Middle East as an adult?

I'd argue that the child--who was abused and no one did a thing about it--could be more screwed up than any vet suffering from PTSS--after all, if the kid's perception was that people who loved him wanted to beat the living crap out of him--in this case, it would be true.

When this case comes to trial, I have no doubt we are going to find out this child was a scapegoat for a sexual sadist or some other kind of pedophile sicko who found excuses to inflict pain on his son under the guise of discipline. And if that is true, this evil dad raised a son who killed out of self-defense.

Comments

[MrsJohnson]

It is crazy to me that you people can judge this little boy when you obviously know nothing about the case! This boy did not do it! I watched the whole interrogation and if you people would have, you would know the truth! This little boy is eight... he would not be an expert in killing and then covering up all the evidence. They have nothing but his so called confession!!! It is sad to me that people can't make up their own minds... they just believe what they read!! Give me a break!

[Muriella]

I checked out the links provided in this article, and was astounded by how heartless people can be in their comments (so far the comments here have been fair).

And why is there a video on youtube of his "confession"? Isn't there some sort of law?

This child is being tried by the unfeeling, idiotic, uneducated american public at a time in his life when his biggest heartbreak should be finding out who actually fills his stockings on Christmas Eve.

I do believe that something horrible happened to this boy to make him take such deadly actions. If it was 1,000 spankings, that could be why there was no record with the authorities about abuse.

Nobody raises an eyebrow when a child is spanked. It is known that abusers hit where the bruises can't be seen, ie on the upper thighs, buttocks and back - areas covered by clothing. A spanking would be hitting and striking the child in a manner that cannot be questioned - although in a perfect world it would be.

[rioguy]

More than likely what we have are the exagerrations of a child who was smart enough to plan a murder and now is smart enough to get sympathy to wrangle out of it. I've yet to see any reports of any bruises at all being discovered on this boy and i would think that the authorities would have investigated that after that allegation came out. C'mon folks. 1000 beatings and no marks!! Not one??? He never told his mother? Never mentioned it to anyone? No one ever reported seeing marks on the boy? The grandmother? Teachers? I'm sure he wore shorts and went swimming in Arizona. No marks? Just like a six foot man seems like a giant to a child I think maybe this is a case where the 100 spankings this kid might have received probably felt like 1000. Either way the fact of the matter is it was premeditated murder because next we'll have a kid saying," after the 500th spanking" and then a kid saying,"After the 100th spanking", and then down to "after the 10th spanking" I had to shoot him. I can understand that people want to be sympathetic to the minor but its also a case of people not wanting to accept the fact that there is the distinct possibility of some very evil people walking this earth because it scares them too much to think that an eight year old could be capable of this.

[LeftRight]

I knew when I heard this that something else was up. It's possible (though VERY unlikely!!) that an 8 year old could accidentally shoot his father and friend..... It's MUCH more likely that he was abused in some way, shape, or form!

[UVRayburn]

If the number of beatings is accurate, Dad taught that violence was the answer to just about any bad situation. The beatings have stopped. I guess Dad was right. Dear old Dad.

[Smith808]

Being tried as an adult presumes that AS an adult, you have acquired enough sense, strength, and resources to retreat from violence - at eight, this kid had none of these abilities and, therefore, wasn't "adult" enough to defend himself. So, he's essentially being punished for not being...old enough?

Where was this kid supposed to run? In that town, would the cops have believed him over the two male adults in the house? I doubt he ever dared to make his abuse known - or maybe he did and no one cared...

Isn't the onus on society to "protect" children from abuse?..to protect those less able to ask for help? Doesn't that outweigh the need to punish him as an adult?

The poor kid was terrorized, day after day!

[kwazimota]

i think a hunter safety course,

[JRsNana]

The only real crime will be if they put that little boy in prison. He's 8! They want to try him as an adult. Ridiculous! He's 8! He needs professional help and lots of it. He needs real love and lots of it. Where are the other adults in his life? The grandmother says they were too hard on him. Where was she? Why didn't she do something to help this child. We are all to blame when we do nothing to help children in need.

[nee]

I think we need to know a lot more about the story before we make any judgements. Where did you get the 1,000 spanking story?

[S1m0n]

The boy's alleged confession--and the foundation of the 'premeditated murder' charge laid in his case--was his statement he had decided that his 1,000th spanking would be his last.

[Toysoldier]

The problem with the 1,000 spanking claim is that this alleged paper was never included in the search warrant and never taken from the house. Perhaps the prosecutors are withholding it as evidence, however, when it was reported all the articles stated that only Sgt. Rodriguez, one of the first officers on the scene, claimed the boy kept a list and that he had spoken with a CPS worker. None of that was mentioned in any of the hearings though.

[Susan Mernit - Huffpost Blogger]

Nee, see the story in USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-11-27-st-johns-boy_N.htm

[rioguy]

In that story the boy changed his version of what happened multiple times finally settling on him putting his father and neighbor out of their misery after finding them beaten. Then he even knew enough to know what Juvie(juvenile detention) is. The "1000 beating" story is beginning to sound more and more like an alibi that a lawyer would dream up. Maybe its true and if so depending on the severity of the alleged spankings I could see where that might push someone over the edge but CPS had been in touch with the boy and the family and if they were doing their job at the first mention of multiple beatings I would think they would have examined the boy for abuse over his entire torso.

[TXfemmom]

His father taught him to use the gun, and gave him the reason.

As someone who understands abuse only too well, as having been a victim of it, I had felt that there was far more to this story than was first learned. The story was that his father was a wonderful man, yada, yada, yada. Everyone would have said that my father was a nice guy, but he was so abusive that he would go to jail, now, for what he did.

Unfortunately, when I was a child, people got away with far more than would ever be tolerated today, if it became known. The thing is, abusers are very clever people who have a facade of being a nice person, and only display their other personality in secret. However, there appears to have been some knowledge of this abuse and no one did anything about it.

Any child who has gone through this should not be tried for murder, they should get tremendous therapy and support, and be helped, even if it occurs only after the tragedy turns to violence.

[YellerDawg]

Maybe, we should let this play out in the courts, before we pass judgement. Something isn't right about the whole thing, though.

[Biffmeister]

Wow! I knew there had to be more to this story than when it first broke. Clearly self defense against the one who should have been his defender. So sad.

[JustinAddison]

I agree. I too wondered what might be behind such an extreme act. If the father was this abusive you've got to be puzzled as to what kind of outcome he expected from torturing his own young son. No winner in this situation.

[boophus]

Because of personal experience I knew long before it came out why an 8 yr old would kill his own father. Sometimes in many cultures it is more taboo to talk about abuse then to actually commit such abuses. Families in the name of unity will throw members who are abused by other members under the wheels to protect thier emotional and psychological investment in the myth of thier familial love or parental rights & power. Sometimes that protection of abusers is more crass because it stems from economic benefits because the abuser has all or most of the economic power.

This is such an ugly and continuing problem that has existed for as long as man. There are even jerks who think it is normal and we should just let it happen. I always say to that fine as long as when the victims have access to power and weapons they can exact thier own reparations of the heart and spirit.

[anon004]

The sad thing is that these "reparations" won't fix it. And, unless someone does something real to fix it (therapy, etc.) it won't ever get fixed. I'm guessing this hideous father was once a frightened, abused eight-year-old himself, with the only difference being he had no access to a rifle to protect himself, and no help later to deal with his pain and shame, so he just grew up into the massively dysfunctional, abusive adult he became.