RSSCase Settled : 9 Year Old Arizona Boy Accused of Double Homicide … Plea Deal Reached, No Jail Time
Charges settled in double murder case against 9 year old Arizona boy, but the mystery behind what really took place continue. We may never know what took place due to the initial gag order and the sealed plea agreement of a minor. What really took place?
The 9 year old Arizona boy who was accused of murdering his father, 29 year old Vincent Romero and fathers friend, 39 year old Timothy Romans has accepted a plea. The sentence requires no jail time. The 9 year old boy’s plea spares the community from emotional trial and prevents the boy from serving time in the state juvenile corrections system or being tried as an adult.
No one inside or outside the Apache County courthouse on Thursday ever addressed what led to the Nov. 5 shootings of the boy’s father and the father’s roommate at their home in this rural community of about 4,000.
The boy, who pleaded guilty to a single count of negligent homicide, acknowledged he did something risky and dangerous that ended the life of the roommate, 39-year-old Timothy Romans, but he was not asked to explain any motive for the killing, nor have police discussed one.
During the hearing when the boy entered the plea, little was said regarding the death of the boy’s father, 29-year-old Vincent Romero.
Certainly, with no real deals only more speculation will arise from what really occurred and how a 9 year old boy murdered two adults.
Posted February 20, 2009 by Scared Monkeys Bizarre, Child Welfare, Legal - Court Room - Trial, Murder | 40 comments |
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40 Responses to “Case Settled : 9 Year Old Arizona Boy Accused of Double Homicide … Plea Deal Reached, No Jail Time”
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Get out of jail FREE I wonder if they gave him $200.00 to boot for passing GO. Cant wait to see what kind of person he will turn out to be. Maybe him and urin vandercrap could some day be best of friends
Absolutely ridiculous. What an example they have set for future murderers. They didn’t even question why he did it. They aren’t even trying to get the boy any help. Absurd
Buster my friend come on that was a little too harsh he is a child…children don’t act out like that for no reason, there has to be either mental issues and or abuse/neglect issues that would have had to occured, children just don’t do things like this just because, not when there is malice involved. Kids pick up guns playing with friends all the time and innocently hurt each other..this wasn’t the case, he was hurt, angry, mad at these two victims the question is WHY??? we won’t fully know that until later when he is 18 or maybe never…botttom line the kid needs help..I don’t think he should be going to Disneyland but he needs help and protection…
Over all parents are responsible for their childrens actions and for reasons unknown to us this child killed his father.
I worked with trouble youth for years I had foster children, 9.9 times out of 10 these kids had problems which were a direct result from either abuse by an adult, or parent, or neglect.
Neglect comes in many forms, not caring about your children, spoiling your children, enabling your childs bad behavior and letting it continue, allowing your children to watch violent movies, play violent video games list goes on and on, as an adults it is our responsibility to teach and guide and discipline our children in a matter that loving and firm, it starts from day one.
JMO…..standing on my Soap Box
This case is almost too tragic to think about. But whatever the motivation that might have led to this action, and it must have been extreme, what are the risks that this kid will react in a similar manner if put in a similar situation?
Without knowing the facts, there’s no way even to opine on the matter. Somehow, I would hope, some kind of oversight will be in place for a while.
I agree with what you said, The kid is disturbed and needed help !!! But sweeping it under the carpet will do no good. The boy got away with murder and will some day brag about it. If urin was disciplined
at the proper age maybe he would not of grown to be prize aruban that he is today.
I think there’s more to this case. I feel he took the fall for someone else. Where are all the high profile defense lawyers for this kid?
Im with Richard #4 on this one.
I just watched a documentary on a case eerily
similar to this one. It was on a month or two
ago.
Boy killed his mother for absolutely no
reason. (Happened in the 70′s)
Pretty good kid most of the time, but every once
in a blue moon, Norman Bates would pop out.
They did the same thing for him… squelched it,
put him in a mental home for awhile. He was finally let out… miraculously cured … went to
school… earned a Engineering degree… got married.
Well, little did people know… apparently all of
his INNER PSYCHO had not been rehabilitated.
All of the time he was a full-time engineer… he was running a part-time SERIAL KILLER business. He left a trail of female victims in his wake…
ultimately capping it of with murdering his wife,
sister-in-law, and then hanging himself in 2004.
Needless to say, I think this verdict sucks.
I have not read much about this case, don’t really get too much info here I miss my CNN New Channel, Fox News Channel…
I doubt highly that this will be swept “under the rug”. Being that he is a minor we don’t get the information we would all like as we would get on adults, however, if he had gone to jail he would have gotten out at 21 anyways and by then he would be totally institutionalized and then surely he would F’up again.
All we can do is hope he gets the kind of help he needs and again it is the parent (Mother)and States responsibility to get it for him.
Good…like dee said, he is only a 9 year old kid! God only knows what horrors drove this child to kill his own father and his father’s friend. Let’s just hope and pray the Norman Bates (like Carpe stated) never comes out in him.
But, I’m sure if I were in the victims families shoes, I’d feel different…
I’d hate to see what the li’l dude would
do to somebody he hated!!!
—
Mom Says 8-Year-Old Charged With Murder ‘Loved His Dad’
Arizona Boy’s Mother Speaks Out for the First Time on ‘GMA’
By JONANN BRADY
Nov. 24, 2008
The mother of an 8-year-old accused of murdering his father and another Arizona man said today that her son is a good boy who had no problems with his dad.
Eryn Bloomfield tells Diane Sawyer that her son was not angry with his father.
“He had a very good relationship with his father. …You know, they did everything together. He loved his dad,” Eryn Bloomfield, who shared custody of the boy with her ex-husband, said in an exclusive interview today with “Good Morning America.”
Bloomfield also said that her son was not having trouble at school.
“He’s very outgoing,” Bloomfield said of her son. “He loves animals. He loves to ride his dirt bike, skateboarding, outdoor things.”
-snip
It could of been something trivial like taking away his I-pod ??? Who knows what kids think and learn from violent games and movies.
I have followed this case closely from the beginning. Although they want you to believe they were treating this 8 yo (at the time of the crime) as a juvenile, they were not. They have plastered his name all over the internet. Oh, while they were doing that, they broadcast anything that could possibly point towards him as the perp, disguising it as ‘the public’s right to know.’ There are hundreds of pages of additional info they withheld, that you’ll never see because of the plea deal. Most people ASSUME the UNKNOWN pages contain points towards the child’s guilt….But….do they?
LE does not lower a double premeditated murder charge down to one count neglegible homicide because they’re doing someone a favor. It’s because they don’t have a case, are afraid they may loose, there’s LOTS of circumstances that could point to innocence?
While everyone is demonizing this child, a few questions need to be answered and then some:
Who’s unidentified prints are on the alleged murder weapon and ammo box? Although the child’s is on the box of ammo (that was already in the home) they are NOT on the alleged murder weapon, but there are UNIDENTIFIED………per forensic reports.
Who wanted to kill the one victim? The one who was known to LE as a drug dealer, was cheating on his wife with multiple people, another female acquaintance had accusations of sexual assault, oh,……and a week earlier had told one of his underling drug dealers, “someone wants to kill me.”????????
One of his paramours had a ‘psycho boyfriend.’
There’s more, MUCH more pointing to other POSSIBLE perps. But alas, a deal has been made. The child will pay for this, at the least, until he’s 18. All this, and the only crime he MAY be guilty of is ‘coming upon the murdered bodies of his dad and friend.’
I don’t know IF this child did it or not. But I find it hard to believe that a boy who most likely still believes in Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy, was able plan and execute, to over take two grown men, one 29 and another 39, with a ‘single bolt action, 22 rifle,’ firing and reloading, 10 times total, from the front and the back, both victims in opposit directions of the room, without dropping one single live shell, not one bit of evidence that the two victims attempted to save their lives……….Of course, then there’s the missing automatic 22 rifle from the home.
But,…….a deal has been made and the child is labled for life.
Makes you understand where the Innocence Project got it’s start. I read recently that 25% of the convicted prisoners found innocent through the work of the Innocence Project, had actually confessed………..later proven through DNA, innocent.
When you only see 1/2 of the evidence, it’s easy to find the perp guilty. When you ASSUME the results of evidence testing you haven’t been privy to, it’s easy to find the perp guilty. When you have a judge trying to cover for a bumbling PD that showed how inept they were from the moment they arrived at the scene, it’s easy to find the accused guilty.
Was this justice? Is this a miscarriage of justice? Are they just giving a slap on the wrist to a double murderer? Is someone getting away with murder?
As for me…………I like answers before I’d throw anyone under the bus, most especially a nine year old child. But, I’m just a name on the internet and my opinion doesn’t mean a heck of a lot.
jmho
fran
Fran- most sensible post. I have doubted the guilt of this child from the beginning. My children grew up knowing how to use a rifle & handguns. They would not have been able, at age 8, to take out 2 adult men. Ludicrous. This boy is taking the fall for someone else. Wait & see
Hey Fran – I like your post and was not aware of many of the details you cited . You hit a home run here. I did not really follow this case but to learn that the finger prints on the gun are not the kid’s… I’m a big fan of the innocence project….some years back there was a case in Texas where a young husband and father was executed after being wrongly convicted of starting a fire in his home that caused the deaths of his two young children. About six months after his execution, I think it was Texas A and M Univ., was able to prove that the fire was the result of faulty wiring and no “excellerant” was used. Think how the poor jury felt…
OT…just heard on CNN there is going to be an arrest in the Chandra Levy case…I think it’s the guy who is already in jail for attacking one or two other women in Rock Creek Park.
I have so many mixed feeling about this. It will make an interesting case study for sure.
Thanks to those of you who read my post. I’ve been discussing this case on another forum, and of course I’m proven ‘wrong’ because of the ‘plea deal.’ Yet, when you ask these same people to tell you ‘what?’ is the reason they believe the child is guilty, they come back with ‘opinion based on speculation,’ or even use ‘rumor’ as part of the evidence of guilt. I’m sorry, but when there’s so many unanswered questions, I’m not willing to give my absolute opinion, one way or the other. Doubts, yes, but not positive.
IF there were no other possible suspects in this case, I might believe it was more than probable the child is guilty……I have no idea if LE checked these leads out or not. The documents are now sealed, meaning what they didn’t find it necessary to put them on the court website with all the rest, whether pointing towards the child or not and they will never be released. Without those, I can’t claim the child guilty, basing that opinion on what I THINK the documents COULD contain. You can’t only use the portion of a report released that points to the child and completely ignore anything exculpatory because it doesn’t ‘fit.’
I know someone that is a forensic chemist. That’s her job. MANY times she receives ‘evidence’ that turns out to be NOTHING. Just because it’s submitted for testing, does not mean it will end up incriminating.
With this case, there’s one particular question, or series of, regarding one possible POI. That would be the guy who quit the mutual employer shortly before the crime. He had a disagreement with the two victims. He had talked to one victim by phone the prior week (think, ‘someone wants to kill me’), he admittedly had a 22LR,(that he claims he never has shot since he obtained it), he had a white vehilce close to the description the child claimed racing away from the scene at the time of the crime (oh, but he told LE his daughter was using it for a few months in Phoenix, yet just weeks before, he was driving it to work),………….NOT to mention, this same NOT suspect, placed himself driving in close proximity to the crime, AT the SAME TIME the crime occurred.
We’ll just ASSUME LE cleared the guy and it’s all just a coincidence. That’s the only way we can justify this information as not relevent.
I guess you might say, I’m not happy with the plea deal. The boy’s attorney was close when he said, ‘neither side will be ‘happy’ with this plea deal,’………or something close to that.
But……..I’ve accepted the deal. I have to. It’s done. The child is now guilty of negligent homicide.
JMHO
fran
Pa. boy, 11, charged with killing pregnant woman
Associated Press
2/21/2009 19 mins ago
WAMPUM, Pa. – An 11-year-old boy has been charged in the death of a pregnant woman who was found shot in a bedroom of her western Pennsylvania farmhouse, police said Saturday.
A statement from state police said the boy was charged with criminal homicide and criminal homicide of an unborn child in the killing of 26-year-old Kenzie Marie Houk. The victim was 8 months pregnant.
The statement said the boy had been arraigned in District Court and placed in the Lawrence County jail.
Officers couldn’t immediately say Saturday whether the boy and the woman were related and wouldn’t give any other details.
Police said Houk’s 5-year-old daughter found her mother’s body Friday morning in a bedroom of their home in a wooded area in the community of Wampum.
The home, located at the end of a half-mile-long driveway along a road scattered with abandoned and burned-out trailers, was cordoned off with yellow police tape and a Pennsylvania State Police vehicle was parked out front early Saturday afternoon. Next to the house was farm equipment and a barn filled with hay.
WPXI-TV identified the dead woman’s father as Jack Houk. There was no immediate response Saturday to a call by The Associated Press seeking comment from a Jack Houk of New Castle, a town next to Wampum.
A preliminary hearing is set for Thursday.
The rural community is about 35 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.
Thanks so much Fran. I saw the initial police interview of this boy. There was nothing about his behavior that made me think he was guilty of anything. He repeated his story more than once and it didn’t change until he started repeating what the officers were saying to him.
While I didn’t think the officers were badgering him or being harsh with him, the whole interview was inappropriate. He is a very little boy. (reminds me of my bff’s grandson.
There is such a thing as innocent.
That’s why there is an age at which a child becomes a man, legally. I think this was a good decision. In fact, I think that children should be protected under the law as much as an adult. There is a huge discrepancy between the way the death of a child is interpreted under the law, as opposed to an adult, as well.
Parents are responsible for their children. It’s your decision to give an eight year old a deadly weapon; but if someone dies as a result of his actions, you will be held accountable.
P.S.
In my opinion, there was justice in this case.
In fact, I’m happy about the decision.
Yeah, right.
—
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,497991,00.html
The boy used a .22-caliber rifle to shoot the men as they returned home from work, then ran to a neighbor’s house, police said. Authorities did not initially consider him a suspect, but questioned him again after Romans’ wife raised suspicions.
In a videotaped police interview, the boy admitted pulling the trigger.
I will add, you can find a few cases of children murdering adults in homes with firearms. But, by far, there are more adults killing children. (period)
Eleven years old: Innocent
.
Maybe America needs to hide their weapons.
BTW:
Shortly after this death, there was another boy who I believe was nine or ten years old who’s father sent to a gun awareness class put on by local law enforcement. The boy was given an automatic weapon.
The boy aimed the gun and pulled the trigger. The gun started shooting. Alarmed and not knowing what to do, he continued to hold the trigger as the gun continued to shoot… flipping it’s way around until it shot him in the head.
This case, just as with the case in Arizona is not a ‘who done it’ type of case. It’s a case that tests the conscience of our courts not only about our rights to bear arms but the responsibility that comes with that right. Men who want their children to have a gun in their hand while making a life and death decision will, certainly, pay the consequences… even under the law.
IMO
…and the boy, while in possession of the gun started counting the number of times his father spanked him and when it got to a thousand, he’d had enough. We all know the power one feels with a weapon in his hand. Does that kind of power belong unsupervised in the hands of children?
Bang… Bang…
You’re dead.
.
They have no concept of what it means to be dead.
IMO
Watch out, Carpe…
Guns are dangerous!
Chao for now…
uh … yes, Hope…
The 11 year old shot the pregnant woman
with a shotgun… and then hopped the
bus to school.
Said he did it because he was “jealous”
Completely innocent. Whatever!
How can we throw a 9- or 11-year-old in jail? Is it desirable?
I keep my SEMI-AUTOMATIC 9mm under lock and key
My plan is to buy a new GUN every two weeks until the Obama Administration takes away my/our RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS!! Yep, supposedly the legislation is out there…
AUTOMATIC weapons are still illegal, are they not???
Richard -
If a 9 or an 11 year old are truly guilty of murder, then they should be tried in court as an adult.
As Fran stated, this case has too many holes in it. I doubt LE had enough evidence against this kid. It is possible he could have been framed…
Richard:
I think it is undesirable to throw our children in jail. We used to protect them. But, now, we fail them in every way imaginable. A child that is experiencing jealousy is capable of acting out in a violent way… if they have the means. They don’t see past their actions. They are children with out the ability to, truly, understand the difference between right and wrong. Their conscience is not formed. I am, totally, against locking up an 11-year-old behind bars for the rest of his life because he acted out as a child and his parent made a weapon accessible to him.
We cannot blame innocent children for the mistakes of the parents.
IMO
Susan:
Semi-automatic weapons are still legal. The, only, question is: Do they belong in the hands of children?
LOL about Obama…
Maybe we’ll get lucky, one day, and you’ll actually get to use those weapons. Now, wouldn’t that be fun?
8)
Reality Check:
http://tinyurl.com/bcqnf5
Hope
Yes, semi-automatics are legal, but you stated in post # 25 that “the boy was given an automatic weapon”. There is a difference. That’s why I questioned the legality of automatic weapons.
To answer your first question, NO, guns do not belong in the hands of children. In my opinion, a responsible parent would not encourage their child(ren) to use a gun nor would they allow it. Also, responsible parents would ensure that weapons in the home are locked up, out of reach of children. Guns don’t kill people, people kill people with guns…
To answer your second question about using guns, legally, I can carry and use my 9mm now. I don’t have to wait for the Obama administration to take my right to bear arms away. And no, to actually have to use my 9mm against another human being, whose is attempting to do me harm, would not be fun at all. I pray that day never comes…
Susan:
It’s going to take alot more than the Obama Administration to take away your right to bear arms. I wouldn’t even worry about it. But, didn’t you think it odd that a father would want to have his son learn to use an automatic weapon?
There’s something gone awry. Even, people that are considered adults in our society, don’t act grown up. We live in a society that is self-indulgent; is it any wonder that our kids are overwhelmed? We are doing a terrible job of raising our children; especially, if we are allowing them to have access to guns and ‘teaching’ them to kill. That’s my point. Besides, there has to be some sanity to the rules we make, because, someone has to be held responsible. Prosecuting adults and finding help for children, in need, is what works.
[...] the other day it was reported that a 9 year old Arizona boy had reached a plea deal in the double shooting deaths of his father and father’s friend. Now we are presented [...]
Hope
I wouldn’t count on that. Obama will send our country into a downward spiral like this country has never seen before. Hell, he’s already closing down Gitmo and releasing terrorists out into the world…
There you go, again, with the “automatic” weapon…LOL! I find it odd that anyone would want a child to learn how to fire a weapon, period…
It’s true there are a lot of so-called adults out in this world that don’t act “grown up”. We all do from time to time, but most of us don’t make a habit of throwing temper tantrums, etc., on a daily basis.
Times have changed immensely, as well as society, and not necessarily for the better. All we can do is what we feel in our hearts is right, and help out when and where we can.
Speaking only for myself, I don’t believe I did such a “terrible job” of raising my children, so I exclude myself from “we”.
I agree, prosecuting/holding the parents responsible, and seeking help for the children is the key.
YOu all should watch the video of the cops interviewing this poor kid. They led him into the whole story. He told them about a white car that he saw leave his home and the police never even looked for it. this kid didn’t shoot anyone. You need to watch the video. I know it happened close to us. A teen was talked to for over 5 hours until they convinced him he killed his aunt and ucle. he confessed and then some months later the real killer was found. so he confessed due the police tactics, not the truth. read this, http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2008/11/19/20081119boyconfess.html and watch the full video, you will know this kid did not murder his father or the friend.
All of you are missing the point! its all about the poor little 9 year old boy. WHAT about the two men that are dead!!! You all are worried and this kids rights, but no one is even talking about the two men that have lost there lives, were is the Justice for then in this court ruling! All of you are worried about this kid but i don’t hear any of you crying out for the victims, that’s the problem with the American Justis system the bleeding hearts worried more about the perp then the guys that lost there life what about the victims rights! One more thing to all of you that say that a child could not kill two grown men should take a little time and look up the child army’s that are running around Africa right now killing men and woman with not only guns but also using knifes to cut off hands and even heads so don’t Kidd yourself into thinking that a 9 year is not able to do a crime like this once you see what kids as young as 7 are doing over in Africa you will see that he is very able to do a crime like this.