[christianhomeschoolmommaof3]

The reason I posted the story was because of the obvious “blame the gun” defense. But assuming the boy is guilty this is what I think about the rest. I agree that he shouldn't be charged as an adult but he also shouldn't be released at 18 either. An eleven year old boy is able to understand and control his feelings. My eight year old boy can do that. This boy just didn't control his feelings. What does it matter how old he looks? He knew the gun would end her life and he decided to fire it, again this is assuming that he is guilty of the crime. There may be some merit to investigating the other circumstances. You are assuming that the father knew about the threats his son made. He may have and not taken it seriously or it all may have come out after the fact.

[GovernmentShrinker]

I’m quite sure that YOUR son can control his feelings better than this, but he’s also not confronted with the sort of anger-provoking challenges this little boy has been, nor has he been raised by irresponsible adults. I’m sure more details will be forthcoming about this family, and I’m sure they won’t be pretty.

And I wouldn’t be so sure that this boy really understood the finality of death, that was likely to result from pulling the trigger. He didn’t appear to have any sort of plan for “what next?”. Just got on the school bus. Didn’t seem to be thinking in terms of consequences, unless perhaps he was so angry and miserable at home that he did something he knew would get him taken out of there, and didn’t care about anything beyond that.

[Tired of Taxes]

he shouldn't be charged as an adult but he also shouldn't be released at 18 either. An eleven year old boy is able to understand and control his feelings. My eight year old boy can do that.

I agree with your assessment above. I'm a homeschool mom of three, too. :-) Three sons, and the middle one is 11. I cannot imagine my 11yo ever committing such a crime, but not all children are sweet and innocent. Some are cruel and mean. Assuming this boy is guilty, I'm struck by the fact that he hopped onto a schoolbus after killing his pregnant stepmother, as if he wasn't even bothered by what he'd just done. It doesn't seem he was confused or upset by what he'd done. If he's not punished for a long time, he will expect to always be excused for his crimes. He should be put away for a long time.