A 12-year-old boy has been found guilty by an Arizona judge of shooting his mother with a handgun. His reason for doing so? He didn't want to do his chores.
In all probability,
Sara Madrid never expected that getting her 12-year-old son to do some housework to prove fatal.
The boy shot her eight times with a
.22-caliber pistol from her bedroom closet, killing her.
The two were quarreling over chores and the boy, who is unidentified because of his young age, told police that Madrid slapped and yelled at him.
Judge James Conlogue found the boy guilty, as a juvenile, for premeditated murder in the Cochise County Superior Court in the southern Arizona town of Bisbee.
Prosecutors initially planned to charge the boy as an adult, but the judge denied the request because a psychologist and a psychiatrist reported that the boy could be rehabilitated in a juvenile facility. They also said that Madrid abused him physically and verbally.
Madrid's boyfriend, Alfonso Munoz, who lived with her and helped raise the child, was a witness. He testified that the boy passed the empty gun to him after the shooting.
He revealed that he had taught the boy how to use the pistol for emergencies and self-defence.
The boy's lawyers argued that the shooting was to get back at Madrid for her abuses. They said that the boy didn't intend to kill her.
Sentencing is on Jan. 13, 2008. Under state law, the boy can be held only until he turns 18.
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