TAMPA, Fla. - Prosecutors charged an 8-year-old boy with aggravated manslaughter
Tuesday for kicking and punching his infant half sister and then hitting her in
the face with a two-by-four, killing her.
If convicted, he could be held in a juvenile facility until his 21st birthday.
"We thought that the juvenile system was the place for him, where he can get the
help he needs," state attorney spokeswoman Pam Bondi said in announcing that
prosecutors had decided to file the criminal charge.
It wasn't an easy decision.
Jayza Laney Simms was 7 months old when she was killed in the May 22 attack. The
boy, who isn't being identified because of his age, was visiting his father, his
father's girlfriend and their two daughters - Jayza and a toddler - at their
home in east Tampa.
The adults were outside talking with friends after putting the children to bed
when the boy came out and said the baby was bleeding, authorities said.
By the time the parents could get her to an emergency room, Jayza was dead.
The boy initially denied beating the baby. But he confessed later, after
investigators reviewed autopsy results and confronted him again, authorities
said. They said he was jealous of the attention showered on the baby and angry
that night because she wouldn't stop crying.
Investigators had never seen a crime in which a young child had displayed "so
much violence and so little remorse," police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said.
Bondi said prosecutors struggled with how to handle it.
"We never thought we'd have to be researching how to charge an 8-year-old
accused of such a terrible crime," Bondi said.
English common law dating back centuries says children under 8 can't be held
accountable for their actions, and children are presumed to be unable to form
criminal intent before about age 15.
Experts say there are fewer than a half-dozen cases of children 8 or younger who
commit murder each year. In 2002, the most recent year for which statistics were
available, there were just three, according to the FBI.
Jayza's brother will be tried in juvenile court for aggravated manslaughter if a
plea deal isn't reached first.
Neither of the boy's parents has publicly discussed the case. He lived with his
mother in Lakeland and visited his father.
Demonic possession?
Too many designer scrips?
What if you were the parent?
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I don't think that an 8 year old is capable of understanding what he's done , jail certainly won't help . Probably the best thing to do is try to explain it to him , and then let him live with the guilt he's going to feel once he does understand .
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If a child 8 yrs old does'nt understand hitting, kicking and
beating with a board is BAD, a NO-NO, then he needs to
be removed from his current environment and put somewhere
"he can get help" (won't kill any other kids).
Maby he'll grow up to be a professional baseball player.
OOPS, wrong thread. Sorry, I've been a little wound up.
If a child 8 yrs old does'nt understand hitting, kicking and
beating with a board is BAD, a NO-NO, then he needs to
be removed from his current environment and put somewhere
"he can get help" (won't kill any other kids).
Maby he'll grow up to be a professional baseball player.
OOPS, wrong thread. Sorry, I've been a little wound up.
PKnTX
That pretty much nails it. Anybody thinking an 8-year-old doesn't know this behavior is wrong should not be allowed to be in charge of kids. I'm not going to claim the kid understands the full consequences of his actions but he also had the option of getting his parents to deal with the problem and chose something he knew was wrong enough to at least lie about initially. Regardless of how much you think this kid understands or should be responsible for, he is definitely a danger to other kids and should not be allowed to freely roam around other kids.
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Hitting anything with a 2x4 not in self defense at any age spells severe disorder of some sort. I believe he knew what he was doing. It'd be hard as a parent to know how to feel on this one. On one hand, losing an infant to murder would make me want to take care of business, but one of my own children? Whew. Messed up.
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RE: What should happen to this kid?
Kid is really messed up and will get worse as he ages if he doesn't get help. I would sentance to a juvi facility until 21 and give him the help he needs so he won't do it again. Must have had a real tough home life to do that.
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You know, the more i think about this, the more i'm thinking the parents may be to blame here as well. What are the chances the kid has been known to be unstable? To do a thing like this, I would think rather high. And who in their right mind would leave the house for a second without a baby monitor?
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We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a civilization, it expects what never was and what never will be.
If we were making this decision, first we would have to decide whether we want to "get him help," or whether we want to lock him away from society where he won't be a threat to anyone else. You cannot lock a kid in a juvenile detention facility until he's 21 - or for any extended length of time - and get him help at the same time. A juvenile facility will make a hardened criminal out of any kid who spends several months in one. They'll surely make a criminal out of one who spends his entire childhood in there. I've worked in these facilities; I've seen what they do. They aren't rehabilitation. Not by any means.
As for whether the kid is a danger to other children, I have no idea. I would say a complete psychiatric evaluation is certainly in order. On the one hand, it seems cruel to charge an 8-year-old with a serious crime and lock them away where they're certain to become a criminal for life. But then on the other hand, how many serious, SERIOUS felons - serial rapists, serial killers, etc. - have we seen who started out as young as eight years old setting the cat on fire or chopping off the dog's head or something like that? I do believe that a child as young as 8 is capable of knowingly committing some pretty serious crimes and I'm not entirely convinced that this kid wouldn't be a danger to another kid somewhere down the line.
I don't pretend to have the answer, but I do feel for the parents. . . they lost both of their kids at the same time. How tragic.
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What should happen to this kid?
