Confession by 8-Year-Old Unlikely to be Admitted, Experts Say
A taped confession by an 8-year-old Arizona boy accused of shooting his father and another man is unlikely to be admitted in court.
Legal experts told the New York Times the confession will probably not be admissible because the boy was never warned of his right to silence and a lawyer, and he was not questioned with a parent or a lawyer present.
Prosecutors have filed a motion to dismiss the murder charge against the boy for the death of his father, Vincent Romero, but they want leave to refile, report the Associated Press, CBS News and CNN. No reason was given for the motion. Prosecutors did not seek dismissal of the murder charge for the death of the father’s co-worker, Timothy Romans.
Tucson criminal defense lawyer Mike Piccarreta, who is not involved in the case, said such a motion usually means the prosecutors want more time to investigate either legal or factual issues.
In the video released to the media, the boy gives shifting accounts of what happened, at first denying he had anything to do with the shootings. Later he says may have shot his father and Romans because they had already been shot and may have been suffering. At another point, the Times story says, the boy is asked if he was angry at his father the day the men were shot. “The first time I was mad at him,” he says, “but he was already shot, and I shot him again.”
Arizona State law professor Judy Stinson said anything the boy said after the interview became a “custodial interrogation” would likely not be admissible. Because the boy likely perceived that he was not free to leave, the questioning was custodial, she said.
Cornell University psychology professor Steve Ceci told the Times that the confession cannot be taken as true. “We can take most 8-year-olds off the street and get them to eventually admit they did this as well,” he said.
