Judge Finds California Boy Responsible in the Killing of His Neo-Nazi Father

[chaya]

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

Comments

[romp]

Mr. Hall also beat Joseph regularly for years before the murder, the judge said on Monday.
Surely, at a point, it becomes self-defense. You can't terrorize someone for years without risking that person taking action. Unless you're a woman or child, I guess.

[chaya]

I didn't look at it this way until just now but plenty of abused wives end up shooting their husbands while they sleep, don't they?

[mollywobbles867]

Yes. I'm reminded of an elderly woman who shot her younger "boyfriend" (read: abusive mooch) and then killed herself. She lived in my friend's apartment complex. I never even met her and the weight of that event still weighs on my mind.

[maladaptive]

Yeah, that's the reason we have Battered Wife Syndrome-- because abuse victims were getting jailed because their method of killing doesn't fit self-defense because "they could run away if their abuser is asleep" or something.

[dissident]

So an adult Neo Nazi is dead, and a kid Neo Nazi is soon to be locked away for a long, long time. I'm having trouble being upset with this situation tbh.

[chaya]

Maybe be sad because the kid was raised to be a Nazi, to be beaten, and generally was never given a chance in hell?

[ialmrnt5]

THIS

humans, we can be so messed up sometimes

[darth_eldritch]

Thank you.

[natyanayaki]

This is just so sad, trained to hate, abused for years, is this outcome really surprising? Will he get treatment? Will he get help, or will he be "jailed" and released as angry, as resentful, as hateful, as lacking coping skills as he is now? That the people who raised him, and abused him (I find it hard to believe that his father was the only one responsible) might not be punished is heart-wrenching. And I wonder, is knowing what's wrong the same as understanding what's wrong? Is knowing something might be illegal the same thing as knowing what's wrong?

[wikilobbying]

i have a lot of the same concerns. like, if he ends up in state custody, what does that mean, what's going to happen? i mean after being subjected to, learning, and inflicting that kind of violence at such a young age, how do they plan on taking care of him?

[darth_eldritch]

This.

If he ends up in the system, and spends time in jail, he's going to end up joining the Aryan brotherhood, or some other racist gang in the prisons because that's the only family type of group he knows.

[teacup_werewolf]

Exactly my thoughts. In fact the first thing that came to my mine was "Well, looks like the Aryan Brotherhood has a new sheep in their flock." Which is sad because he had so much potential wasted.

[astridmyrna]

This is so heartbreaking that I am just about to cry. That kid deserves so much better and it's going to take a whole lot of love and therapy to get him on the right track.

[zinnia_rose]

What a shitty situation all around. :( I hope Joseph gets some help.