A Georgia juvenile court judge found a sixth grader not guilty today of killing his 5-week-old cousin but guilty of two counts of misdemeanor battery in her death.
From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
On July 4, the boy was left alone in the car with the baby while her mother, Brittiany Young of Kennesaw, shopped in a Target store. The mother returned to the car 18 minutes later to find her baby limp and unresponsive. The baby died a day later of blunt force trauma, according to an autopsy.
My philosophy on verdicts is not to speculate on whether someone is guilty or not guilty unless I have seen the entire trial. Even then, my only thoughts are on whether or not the state proved their case. Obviously, I didn’t see any of this trial and therefore, offer no opinion as to the verdict.
I am curious as to what the prosecution was thinking when they charged this 12-year-old with murder. My thoughts are that a child that age probably wouldn’t know how to take care of a baby.
According to the AJC, the prosecution alleged that the boy shook and slammed the baby against a hard surface. The boy told police he was trying to comfort the baby and she fell. The judge said there was no evidence that the boy intended to kill the baby:
“He was scared and didn’t know what to do so he tried everything he could to get the baby to stop crying. He didn’t know what to do and I don’t expect him to know what to do,” the judge said. “In order to get the baby to get quiet, he committed batteries against this baby.”
I understand the judges comments. A few weeks ago an Horry County jury acquitted the adult father of homicide by child abuse in a similar situation involving the death of his baby of roughly the same age.
Sometimes terrible things happen to babies. It’s sad, it is very sad. I can think of nothing more devastating than the death of a baby. But sometimes it’s not murder.
The juvenile’s trial lasted three days. The mothers, two cousins – one lost her baby, the other’s child on trial for murder – obviously in tremendous pain. The judge delivered the verdict immediately after closing arguments. The case is over now except for sentencing the juvenile. Although the trial is over, I doubt that there is closure. That will probably take a life time.
Sentencing for the juvenile is set for January 6, 2010. The judge said he was inclined to order probation and mandatory counseling. If he had been convicted of murder, his sentence would have been not to exceed his twenty-first birthday.
