Posted on 12/17/2005 12:48:09 PM PST by jdm
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) - A 15-year-old boy allegedly killed his father, then set their home on fire because he was afraid his father would find out he was failing some classes, prosecutors said.
Ryan Watts was charged Friday with murdering his father, 50-year-old John E. Bruner, who was initially believed to have died in the fire earlier this week. He was charged as an adult.
Watts was arrested Wednesday after an autopsy determined that Bruner died from multiple gunshot wounds and not from the fire, Santa Clara police said.
According to court documents, Watts told police he took a .45-caliber handgun from a safe in his father's bedroom and stashed it in his room shortly before the killing.
Court documents allege he shot his father in the head at close range Monday, then set the body on fire because it was too heavy to carry to the backyard, where he had planned to bury it. Watts hid the gun and went to Taco Bell before calling 911 to report the fire, the documents said.
Watts' parents apparently were separated, and he had been staying at his mother's home since the fire, police said.
If convicted, Watts faces life in prison. He is not eligible for the death penalty because he's a juvenile.
Watts is expected to enter a plea during a Dec. 22 court appearance.
My gym teacher wasn't all that bad.
[ \wishful thinking ]
And this kid gets a C- in Murder. Could've gotten it pushed up to a B if he had just skipped the fire and fled to Mexico before anyone notices something is up. He is in California after all. I wonder if his dad would have been happy with that grade. Our Government schools today!
They're far, FAR worse!;)
just damn
Lucky ball...
"Lucky ball..."
LOL!
I wish parents would realize not all kids are going to get good grades. And some kids are "late bloomers".
My daughter and I are so much alike. I never gave her a hard time about her grades unless she was getting in trouble for behavioral problems. We both got C's in grade and high school, but something about going to college and studying what you really need to learn for a life ... she and I both got A's and B's in college.
With thinking like that there is no wonder he got bad grades.
I think grades are overrated. School should be just for making out with the teach and students. They'll have plenty of time to study when they are sitting around drawing welfare and unemployment checks.
stupid kid just failed life
It's the gun's fault, of course.
smart move....
You never know what kind of story they told to their 'friends'
from the S side of Chicago
And where you hide your gold....
I was about to post the same conclusion, perhaps the author of that sentence had a more understanding father.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Mine was - but, I never found his gun.
Still hate that red s*it you tag all your posts with. Never read a word you post
Ninth Grade Algebra class,1961.Each kid had to come to the teacher's desk to get their grade.Mine was an F as was my Gen Science grade and a D in Latin.The teacher singled me out as a "prime candidate for academic probation and continuation school".Scared the crap out of me and shamed me terribly.
Parents didn't blow up at me cause they knew I was trying.I just wasn't ready to take college prep classes then.I ended up graduating from college with a B average and then got my teaching credential and Masters.
Never taught Algebra though!
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