On Friday, November 7, 2008, an 8-year old boy allegedly killed his father, Vincent Romero, and another man, Timothy Romans. He has been charged as a juvenile with 2 counts of murder. A gag order was immediately issued by the judge so we won't be getting much more information on this case for quite some time.
This photograph taken Nov. 8, 2008 shows the house where Vincent Romero, 29, and Timothy Romans, 39, of San Carlos, Ariz were found fatally shot in St. Johns, Ariz. on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Dana Felthauser)
Mr. Romans was renting a room in the Romero home in St. Johns, AZ, during the work-week because his construction job was located approximately 170 miles away from his permanent Phoenix residence. Mr. Romans would return back to his family every weekend to spend time with his 2 teenage daughters and wife. It has been reported that Mr. Romans was a loving father and parent.
Mr Romero, the boy's father, had full custody of the child; his mother lived in Mississippi. Apparently, the father was remarried but she was not at home at the time of the incident. Neighbors remember Mr. Romero as a loving father who was involved in his son's life.
WAS THE BOY ABUSED?
Often times, children become violent or withdrawn if they are abused. Investigators are surely pursuing:
1) Did the boy's father (physically or mentally) abuse him? Remember, the boy lived with the father's new wife. Commonly, children are faced with emotional issues after their parents' failed relationship, or the beginning of a parent's new relationship following divorce. The father may have abused or resented the boy for being the product of a previously failed relationship. For an 8-year old boy to kill his father with a .22 caliper gun, there may have been some underlying anger and the boy's only means of successful defense was the use of a deadly weapon.
2) Was the boy abused (physically or sexually) by the tenant, Mr. Romans, who rented a room in the home for the past year? Was the boy afraid to tell his father of the abuse? Did they boy tell his father of the abuse but the father disregarded the information?
Initial reports reference the possibiltiy of abuse by don't say by whom. In fact, there are police records of calls made from the Romero residence for domestic violence.
WAS THE BOY SIMPLY WITHDRAWN & ANGRY - DID NOT RECEIVE PROPER HELP?
Another theory may be that the boy had severe underlying emotional issues that were disregarded by his family and teachers and left undiagnosed. Reports state he had no disciplinary problems in school but that doesn't mean he was not troubled. Many troubled children do not "act out" but instead become withdrawn. Maybe the boy became withdrawn after his parents divorced, after his father retained full custody of him, after his father remarried and after his family allowed Mr. Romans to move into the home. He may have felt abandoned and was unable to discuss his emotional disorder.
REGARDLESS, DID BOY FULLY "APPRECIATE" HIS CRIMINAL CONDUCT
The common law does not recognize children to have the same mental capacity as adults. In fact, they are basically considered "incompetent". They are incapable of meeting the same standards of behavior as adults. The standard applied in civil cases (for example, non-criminal negligent behavior) is what is reasonable conduct for a child of that actor's age, intelligence and experience. In many states, children below a certain age are presumed incapable of negligent conduct. As the child gets older, the standard shifts more toward culpability.
In this case, we are not talking about civil, negligent conduct but instead criminal conduct. That's why we must really look at whether this 8-year old boy could really appreciate his conduct. Sure, he may know that guns kill, and just because he possibly premeditated the crime, that alone does not mean he appreciated his behavior. "Premeditation" in this case isn't the same as a bank robber plotting an entire scheme.
For example, I represent a man who is seeking early release from prison after being sentenced to 75 + 40 years for killing a family friend. This woman actually had once lived at the family home as well. He became angry at his parents for her presence. After she moved out, he took a bat to her house, hid the bat in his pants, then hit her over the head because he wanted to take some petty cash from her. He confessed to the crime, just like the AZ boy. The state argued it was premeditation, just like in the AZ case. Sure it was premeditation but my client truly lacked the level of sophistication and maturity to properly plan the crime. I am not defending his behavior; however, as he sits in prison, 30 years later, he truly cannot believe he made such a foolish mistake that was caused by underlying and unaddressed anger issues. Like the AZ boy, my client had no previous arrest record or documented problems in school. In my opinion, these are both classic cases of an angry children who acted out criminally but who were truly unable to fully appreciate the long-term consequences of their individual behavior.
STUDIES
Plenty of research shows that a child's mind is not fully developed enough to really understand the true consequences of their behavior. Recent studies have shown that there is evidence of concrete differences between adolescents and adults; in fact, the brain does not fully mature until after the age of 18. In fact, the Brief of the American Medical Association explains adolescents discount future consequences more than adults and their inability to perform cost-benefit analyses often results in poor judgment. Recent evidence also shows that adolescent brains are not fully developed in regions related to reasoning, risk taking and impulse control:
Adolescents, with immature brains, emergent coping skills, and diminished judgment capacity, eventually become adults who can and should be held fully accountable for their actions. In the meantime, however, to execute 16 and 17 year old offenders is to presume full adult responsibility and to hold them accountable not just for their acts but also for the immaturity of their neural anatomy and psychological development.
MY CONCLUSION
Before we are quick to judge the child perpetrator of this unfortunate and terribly violent crime we must A) Determine if the boy had underlying but undiagnosed psychological problems or if he was abused by a member of the family, B) Determine if the boy was truly able to appreciate the conduct. That doesn't mean that he simply knew his behavior was wrong or bad but could he really understand the long term consequences of such rash behavior? Because he is so very young, I will venture to guess that the boy was probably abused; however, he did not appreciate the serious & long-term effects of his behavior. I propose that when he reaches adulthood, he'll truly regret killing his father and father's co-worker.
Hundreds of mourners outside Mr. Romero's funeral (Photo courtesy of AP)
www.xpunged.com and www.tamaraholder.com
Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at 07:20AM 
Plaxico Burress (AP)
