Posted on 12/26/2006 4:15:43 PM PST by rocksblues
HOUSTON (Reuters) - No charges will be filed in the case of a 9-year-old boy who fatally stabbed a 2-year-old girl in a Texas home where a teen-ager was babysitting 12 children, Dallas police said on Tuesday after an investigation.
The stabbing occurred on December 22 in a home in southeast Dallas where a 15-year-old was left to supervise at least 10 siblings and 2 other children, including the victim.
The toddler, Damya Jefferson, was stabbed twice in the chest by a 9-year-old boy who lived at the house, according to published reports.
No charges will be filed against the boy due to his age, said Dallas Police Sgt. Gil Cerda. "You have to be 10 years old to be charged in Texas," Cerda said.
(Excerpt) Read more at today.reuters.com ...
We're a nation of laws ... and many are screwed up laws (or maybe it's the nuts that interpret them).
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the five-year-old of whom you speak was criminally charged.
Since when did age become a free pass? If you can stab someone you should hang for it, I say.
Correct me if I am wrong but this 9 year old will have a paperless trail.
They ought to at least put him into protective custody. If it were my kid he stabbed to death, the little bastard would be dead by the next morning.
Dear Lord help us all.
If that were my son and I had other children I wouldn't let him back into the home. He is dangerous and needs help.
I met a woman once at a conference who had a foster home in Colorado. She and her husband specialized in taking children who had killed. My she was an amazing person. Talk about tough love. But she did radiate love and strength.
Mon Dec 25, 6:21 PM ET
DALLAS - Caseworkers had investigated a family home eight times before a toddler was stabbed to death, allegedly by a 9-year-old boy, but conditions were never bad enough to warrant state intervention, officials say.
"It never rose to the level of imminent danger," said Marissa Gonzales, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Child Protective Services. "That is what is necessary for removal of the children."
More than a dozen children were at the home of Detress Richmond without an adult Friday when 2-year-old Damya Jefferson was stabbed twice in the chest, authorities said. The children had been left in the care of a 15-year-old baby sitter, who was in the house's downstairs while the children were upstairs.
Damya and her 2-month-old sister had been left with Richmond by their mother, Tiara Jefferson, 17, while she went to earn extra Christmas money Friday by braiding hair, police said.
No charges had been filed as of Monday.
The boy who stabbed Damya cannot be prosecuted because of his age, and was placed in a hospital, authorities said.
Authorities said the boy's siblings described him as a bully.
"We don't know what spurred it," police Sgt. Brenda Nichols said of the stabbing. "All we know is that his brothers and sisters say that he tended to push them around."
Since 1994, CPS caseworkers had investigated Richmond's home eight times because of allegations of that her children were neglected, not fed or living in filth. They referred her to parenting classes and helped her find work and food.
Gonzales said Richmond, mother of at least 13 children, seemed to be cooperative with that intervention.
After the stabbing, three of Richmond's children were placed with relatives and seven others were placed in foster care, authorities said. CPS workers also took Damya's 2-month-old sibling.
A hearing will be held within two weeks to determine where the children should live.
Welfare for those that cannot cope.
"We're a nation of laws.."
We ceased being a nation of laws a long time ago - we're now a nation of lawyers, litterally.
Not only should we have locks on guns, but also on knives.
Just when I was starting to feel good about humanity again, I read an article like this...
Lionell, the kid down in florida that killed the girl doing wrestling moves was also involved in violence when he was under ten and nothing was done and his mom was a deputy cop.
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