Judge Finds California Boy Responsible in the Killing of His Neo-Nazi Father
RIVERSIDE, Calif. - The young son of a neo-Nazi knew right from wrong when he shot and killed his father, and he is therefore responsible for second-degree murder, a judge ruled on Monday.
Joseph Hall was 10 years old when he shot his sleeping father in the head in 2011. Now 12, he could be held in state custody until age 23.
Because Joseph was so young at the time of the murder, the case hinged on whether he understood that shooting his father, Jeffrey Hall, 32, was wrong.
The judge, Jean P. Leonard of Riverside County Superior Court, said that after the shooting, Joseph put the gun under his bed; he did not cry when the police arrived, even as other family members were sobbing; and testimony indicated that he might have told his younger sister days before that he planned to shoot their father.
“These actions show the court that he knew his actions were wrong and did not want to get caught,” Judge Leonard said in court Monday.
The trial, which began in October but was delayed for months and resumed last week, offered a rare glance into the life of a young boy whose family hosted monthly neo-Nazi meetings at their home.
Joseph had been violent since he was a young child, according to testimony, beginning before his father joined the National Socialist Movement. Joseph hit his sisters and his stepmother, stabbed classmates at school with pencils and once tried to strangle a teacher with a telephone cord.
After he had been kicked out of half a dozen schools for violent behavior, his stepmother, Krista McCary, and Mr. Hall home-schooled him, Ms. McCary testified at the trial.
“He was very impulsive and very violent towards the other children and teachers,” Ms. McCary said. “Hitting, kicking, biting, scratching, stabbing with sharp objects, hitting with objects.”
Mr. Hall also beat Joseph regularly for years before the murder, the judge said on Monday.
Michael Soccio, the chief deputy district attorney, said he hoped the court would get Joseph help. “Joseph is a little boy, and his life has been very, very sad,” Mr. Soccio said after the ruling. But he added: “I also would have been concerned had Joseph been released. I think he’s a very dangerous boy.”
Sitting quietly in court, slight and blond and wearing glasses and a button-down shirt, Joseph showed no visible reaction when the judge found the allegations against him - the murder charge and one count of using a firearm - to be true. He is scheduled to return to court next month, when Judge Leonard will most likely determine where he will be sent.
If he ends up in state custody, Joseph would be the youngest person in the State Division of Juvenile Justice, which houses minors who have committed serious crimes, a state official said.
Matthew J. Hardy, the public defender representing Joseph, said it would be “a complete tragedy” if the boy were sent to state custody. Mr. Hardy said he planned to appeal the ruling.
Mr. Hardy had argued that the environment in the Hall home glorified violence and that, given his young age, left Joseph unable to understand right from wrong. During the trial, Mr. Hardy showed a photograph of Joseph holding a toy gun, giving a Nazi salute and smiling beside a hooded Klansman.
The day before the murder, a reporter attended a neo-Nazi gathering at the Hall home. During the meeting, Joseph sat quietly on the stairs. He said he was having fun, even showing off a new belt bearing a Nazi insignia.
Around 4 a.m. the next day, Joseph pulled his father’s .357 handgun - which he called “the bad gun,” the judge said - down from the shelf in his parents’ bedroom. He walked downstairs, where his father lay sleeping on the couch, and shot Mr. Hall in the head.
After the police arrived, Joseph was escorted to a squad car, where he talked with Officer Michael Foster. He asked questions like “Do people get more than one life?” Officer Foster said.
“He was sad about it,” Officer Foster said in testimony. “He wished he hadn’t done it.”
Source.
It sounds like the shittiness of the father led to 1) Nazism, 2) the child abuse, and 3) the lack of diagnosis/treatment for the kid. (Obviously one can't tell if it's a mental illness or a behavioral problem.. but tbh idek if the kid would have had a problem to diagnose if he hadn't had the parenting he got.)
Joseph Hall was 10 years old when he shot his sleeping father in the head in 2011. Now 12, he could be held in state custody until age 23.
Because Joseph was so young at the time of the murder, the case hinged on whether he understood that shooting his father, Jeffrey Hall, 32, was wrong.
The judge, Jean P. Leonard of Riverside County Superior Court, said that after the shooting, Joseph put the gun under his bed; he did not cry when the police arrived, even as other family members were sobbing; and testimony indicated that he might have told his younger sister days before that he planned to shoot their father.
“These actions show the court that he knew his actions were wrong and did not want to get caught,” Judge Leonard said in court Monday.
The trial, which began in October but was delayed for months and resumed last week, offered a rare glance into the life of a young boy whose family hosted monthly neo-Nazi meetings at their home.
Joseph had been violent since he was a young child, according to testimony, beginning before his father joined the National Socialist Movement. Joseph hit his sisters and his stepmother, stabbed classmates at school with pencils and once tried to strangle a teacher with a telephone cord.
After he had been kicked out of half a dozen schools for violent behavior, his stepmother, Krista McCary, and Mr. Hall home-schooled him, Ms. McCary testified at the trial.
“He was very impulsive and very violent towards the other children and teachers,” Ms. McCary said. “Hitting, kicking, biting, scratching, stabbing with sharp objects, hitting with objects.”
Mr. Hall also beat Joseph regularly for years before the murder, the judge said on Monday.
Michael Soccio, the chief deputy district attorney, said he hoped the court would get Joseph help. “Joseph is a little boy, and his life has been very, very sad,” Mr. Soccio said after the ruling. But he added: “I also would have been concerned had Joseph been released. I think he’s a very dangerous boy.”
Sitting quietly in court, slight and blond and wearing glasses and a button-down shirt, Joseph showed no visible reaction when the judge found the allegations against him - the murder charge and one count of using a firearm - to be true. He is scheduled to return to court next month, when Judge Leonard will most likely determine where he will be sent.
If he ends up in state custody, Joseph would be the youngest person in the State Division of Juvenile Justice, which houses minors who have committed serious crimes, a state official said.
Matthew J. Hardy, the public defender representing Joseph, said it would be “a complete tragedy” if the boy were sent to state custody. Mr. Hardy said he planned to appeal the ruling.
Mr. Hardy had argued that the environment in the Hall home glorified violence and that, given his young age, left Joseph unable to understand right from wrong. During the trial, Mr. Hardy showed a photograph of Joseph holding a toy gun, giving a Nazi salute and smiling beside a hooded Klansman.
The day before the murder, a reporter attended a neo-Nazi gathering at the Hall home. During the meeting, Joseph sat quietly on the stairs. He said he was having fun, even showing off a new belt bearing a Nazi insignia.
Around 4 a.m. the next day, Joseph pulled his father’s .357 handgun - which he called “the bad gun,” the judge said - down from the shelf in his parents’ bedroom. He walked downstairs, where his father lay sleeping on the couch, and shot Mr. Hall in the head.
After the police arrived, Joseph was escorted to a squad car, where he talked with Officer Michael Foster. He asked questions like “Do people get more than one life?” Officer Foster said.
“He was sad about it,” Officer Foster said in testimony. “He wished he hadn’t done it.”
Source.
It sounds like the shittiness of the father led to 1) Nazism, 2) the child abuse, and 3) the lack of diagnosis/treatment for the kid. (Obviously one can't tell if it's a mental illness or a behavioral problem.. but tbh idek if the kid would have had a problem to diagnose if he hadn't had the parenting he got.)