Girl's maturity weighed in killing
Posted on 04/20/2002 5:22:57 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
Girl's maturity weighed in killing
Hundreds mourn slain 6-year-old Lewisville boy
04/20/2002
The question of whether a 15-year-old Lewisville girl should stand trial as an adult in the slaying of her younger brother is complicated by reports of her stunted emotional and mental development, law and psychology experts said.
The girl and her 10-year-old brother are being held at the Denton County Juvenile Detention Center. Police have said the siblings confessed to stabbing 6-year-old Jackson Carr to death behind their Lewisville home.
Funeral services for the 6-year-old boy were Friday in Plano. Hundreds of people attended the ceremony, in which Jackson's uncle described by him as a happy boy who loved to play with toy cars and gave his heart to Jesus at a young age.
Meanwhile, authorities said the cases will be submitted to the district attorney's office next week.
"One of the issues ... is that the defense attorney has to make sure that they put on evidence to make sure the court knows the actual mental age and the developmental level of the child," said professor Ellen Marrus, director of the Southwest Regional Juvenile Defense Center in Houston.
Courtesy photo Jackson Carr |
The center provides technical assistance, training and support services to attorneys representing children in delinquency cases.
"You can have a cognitive level that is higher than your developmental level," Dr. Marrus said. "Possible abuse in the home also delays a child's developmental level."
The 15-year-old girl, who is in the seventh grade, had admitted trying to set a Garland elementary school on fire when she was 11 years old, according to public records. A classmate in the girl's sixth-grade geography class said she saw the girl corner another classmate and hold a pair of scissors to his face last year.
"Fire-setting is considered one of the most significant symptoms of mental and behavioral disturbance, and it calls for an immediate and concerted response on the part of the family to get the needed treatment," said Dr. Barbara Rila, a Dallas psychologist. "Aggression with the use of a weapon is not any less serious."
Another indicator of the 15-year-old's maturity is her grade placement, Dr. Rila said, which is two years behind her age.
"A healthy, developmentally on-target adolescent who hadn't had some of the deficits would more likely be certified [as an adult]," she said. "I think there's some room in this case to discuss some of the special needs this child has."
Child Protective Services had investigated four reports of abuse at the Carr home over the last several years. None was substantiated, CPS spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said.
Another legal issue will be whether confessions by the siblings should be considered. Research done throughout the state shows juvenile confessions to be unreliable, Dr. Marrus said.
That is not widely known among defense attorneys, and confessions are often used as key evidence against juvenile offenders, she said.
Dr. Marrus, who opposes certifying children to stand trial as adults, said it should also be considered that a child does not have the experience to understand the implications of speaking to police.
"They don't understand what's going on, so there's not a connection between the punishment and what they did," Dr. Marrus said.
Other issues facing the family include the likelihood that the younger sibling's defense will rest on blaming the older child. And scrutiny is likely to turn to the parents to explain their children's behavior, Dr. Marrus said.
The legal issues prompted the girl's parents, Michael and Rita Carr, to retain Dallas attorney Dan Hagood. They will face the dilemma of seeking justice for their youngest son's death while ensuring fair treatment of their two remaining children, the attorney said.
JIM MAHONEY / DMN Rita Carr (left center with sunglasses) and Michael Carr (right center with sunglasses) along with family and friends gater around the casket of 6-year-old Jackson Carr Friday. |
"This is a very strange piece of terrain they are on," Mr. Hagood said. "They are in a position where they are going to need to cooperate with both the prosecution and the defense, and cooperate truthfully."
There is no confidentiality privilege between parents and children, as there is between husbands and wives, experts said.
"Parents can be put in a very difficult position of knowing incriminating facts about their kids, and since there is no parent-child privilege, they have to testify," said Frederick Moss, former federal prosecutor and professor of criminal law at Southern Methodist University.
Part of Mr. Hagood's role could be to lobby the district attorney that the 15-year-old girl should receive treatment rather than a severe jail sentence, Mr. Moss said.
"It must be an exquisitely difficult position to be in because they may agree that their kids killed their other child, but they may be in a position where they strongly disagree with the state over what ought to happen to those kids," he said.
Friday, the couple buried Jackson after a quiet, solemn service in Plano. Dozens of white roses adorned his coffin in the funeral home chapel, where hundreds gathered to say goodbye.
Jackson was described by his uncle, Bruce Carr, and by others as a happy boy who gave his heart to Jesus, loved to play with Hot Wheels toy cars and gave unreservedly.
"Right now I picture Jack and Jesus, sitting Indian-style across from each other, rolling Hot Wheels back and forth, playing, laughing and enjoying one another's company," the boy's uncle said.
The Rev. Daniel Erickson said he had few answers for those asking why Jackson was killed.
Parents wake to slaying's reality - Siblings who admitted killing brother, 6, to remain in custody
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/668187/posts
Two siblings admit stabbing, burying 6-year-old, police say
http://www.dallasnews.com/localnews/stories/041702dnmetlewisstab.160cb.html
Kids' troubled past includes arson case
http://www.dallasnews.com/localnews/stories/041702dnmetlewis-family.a037.html
A Look At The Crime Scene
http://www.dallasnews.com/popups/04-02/17041702lewisville.html
Texas Siblings Had Mischievous Past (killed their 6yr old brother)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/667666/posts
Sentence her as a dangerous confessed murderer. Her age and development should play no part - Jackson's death was no accident. His life must have been hell around his sister, and his parents didn't protect him from her -- they bear responsibility for not supervising them.
She might be insane but she should never be released from prison. How can you treat someone who murders their own little brother?
I remember when i took psychopathology, also, being somewhat nonplussed by a statement that Charles Manson had made in his early years (if i recall, he was late teens or early 20s when having made the statement); he was in and out of jails and treatment centers for his aberrant behaviors, and virtually pleaded with the authorities not to release him because he KNEW he could not live appropriately within civilized society. His virtual plea to remain incarcerated went unheeded, and many years later, of course, his foreknowledge became history as he orchestrated the evil murder of Sharon Tate, her unborn child, and several other people.
This girl is dangerous, regardless of 'why'.
Boy, 8, slain in Bellingham; teen arrested
BELLINGHAM -- Michael Busby was a bright little charmer, a kid one of his neighbors called "absolutely adorable, a real sweet kid."
He was one of the newest youngsters on his block, but the second-grader made friends quickly, riding bikes with the neighborhood kids and bumming food and candy from their moms. The last person he met, however, was deadly.
Bellingham police say that the 8-year-old boy was abducted and killed Thursday night by a 16-year-old neighbor. His body was dumped in an industrial yard a few blocks away, next to the Pacific Concrete Industries waterfront plant.
...Late yesterday, the teen was booked into juvenile detention, Lt. Dac Jamison said. The 16-year-old has a juvenile criminal record, but Jamison refused to say what it involved.
...The suspect has been causing problems in his Jaeger Street neighborhood for four years, neighbor Carla Rood said as she kept an eye on her fourth-grade daughter, Emma. He has set fires here and there in trash cans and recycling bins, she said. A couple of years ago, he broke into a neighbor's house while she was gone and "set little ritual fires" on her countertops and hearth. The woman, a mother with young children, was disturbed enough by the incident that she moved a short time later, Rood said.
~~ Seattle PI
"Hundreds of people attended the ceremony, in which Jackson's uncle described by him as a happy boy who loved to play with toy cars and gave his heart to Jesus at a young age. "
Thank God for that. Atleast he is in heaven now.
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