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.

[romp]

Yeah and they often are put away for years as if they're a danger to the public when they were just defending themselves and/or their families. A loved one was abused by a stepfather until she was ready to kill him--she didn't but I think it's a logic reaction. My only personal example was when I was in an isolated house with no phone and someone knocking at both the front and back doors: when I couldn't be any more frightened, I grabbed a kitchen knife and went to kill or be killed (it was actually a drunken acquaintance).

I think torturing, and intimidating people runs the risk of them acting to protect themselves. We can't live under stress like that indefinitely without something giving. People shouldn't be punished for trying to end the torment rather than shutting down.

[ohmiya_sg]

That is exactly what I think every time something like this happens.

[girly123]

This. It's horrifying to me that this continues to be ignored.