Posted on 06/11/2011 9:12:23 AM PDT by moonshinner_09
(Reuters) - A 5-year-old girl could face murder charges in the recent drowning of a toddler in a bathtub, police said on Thursday.
Kansas City police are waiting for a medical examiner's report on how Jermane Johnson Jr., died, but have investigated the death as a homicide, spokesman Darin Snapp said Thursday.
"I've been in law enforcement for 20 years and it's the youngest suspect I can remember," Snapp said. "It's extremely rare."
Johnson, 18 months old, was in a Kansas City house on June 3rd with other children, but the 16-year-old girl who was supposed to be looking after them fell asleep, Snapp said.
Investigators learned through interviews that a 5-year-old girl in the house got irritated at the boy, Snapp said.
"She said she got angry because he would not stop crying and she held him under the water until he stopped crying," Snapp said.
Snapp said a decision on to handle the case will be left up to prosecutors after the medical examiner's report is released.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
I read this earlier today. Leaving small children unattended is a crime, isn’t it? Horrible story.
Nor I. Looks like there is a very small window between the time an individual can be killed legally via abortion, and tried as a criminal.
All you newborns to 4 year olds out there reading this better enjoy your down time. After that, and before that, you are on your own.
They keep walking it back.
Before you know it they will have the death penalty for babies still in the womb...
The article says there was a 16 year old left to watch them. She fell asleep though.
This is what our society is coming to, where a 5 yr. old knows how and can kill someone.
The article says there was a 16 year old left to watch them. She fell asleep though.
This is what our society is coming to, where a 5 yr. old knows how and can kill someone.
I can see charging the 16 year old with neglect, but the 5 year old? Way out of line. A decent defense attorney would be able to humiliate the cops and prosecutors. They may be counting on a public defender that will cop a plea.
The 5 yr old needs counseling. A child that young is incapable of understanding the consequences of their actions. The prosecutor should be ridiculed out of office in shame.
I’ve seen kids as young as 8 or 9 in DC committing petty theft, robberies, crimes of the sort.
5 years old is the new 13 years old...........
Lord of the Flies stuff
Charging a 5 yr old with murder is insane. She probably did intend to kill the younger sibling. But “intention” in a 5 yr old (as well as their understanding of death) is a little hard to define, particularly since this child probably came from a family where ethics, morality and right-and-wrong are all a bit on the fuzzy side.
It should be criminal negligence for the mother and possibly the 16 yr old, and the 5 yr old should be taken out of the home permanently and sent some place where she might learn to be a decent human being.
The whole business is horrible. Plenty of blame to go around.
Traditionally, at least since the early middle ages, the “age of reason” was considered to be seven. That’s why it is still customary to wait until seven for children to have their First Communion, when it is presumed that they can understand what they are doing.
On the other hand, a five-year-old certainly should not be doing something like this. You have to wonder what kind of family this is. Single mother, I would presume. Maybe a welfare mother. Maybe inner city minority, judging from the names.
No, I don’t think a murder charge will hold up. But something has to be done—God knows what.
She will probably get “life”.
When she turns fifteen she will be wondering what she has done.
I agree with you completely.
What I find very odd is, according to ABC news the 5 year old child, she dragged Johnson into the tub, still full of water from when the children took baths earlier that evening.Furthermore, The 16-year-old left in charge of the children reportedly had mental disabilities.
How many of you with small children would leave your kids in the care of someone whom has mental disabilities ? This home having small children in it , the babysitter left a bathtub full of water from an earlier time ? http://abcnews.go.com/US/murder-charge-considered-girl-drowned-crying-toddler/story?id=13811620
The children were obviously not in a stable and loving home. That is for sure. I have children in this age group, and know with out a doubt that my 2 boys would never in a million years do this to their 1 year-old sister (and they are not at the “age of reason” yet either).
The key words in this "story" are may and could. The prosecutor hasn't done anything yet, and most likely won't even consider charging her with murder. Because of the death, though, the police have to treat the case as a homicide.
If that is the case, that the 16 year-old had learning disabilities, then the mother should be charged with a crime. AND leaving a tub with any amount of water in it when you have a toddler is a BIG no-no!
It sounds as if their is plenty of blame to go around, that is for sure. These children were not in a safe environment.
Insanity.
5 years old is supposed to be grown up?
It’s sad, but this is just a baby, with no knowledge of society.
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