Prosecutors in Phoenix have offered a plea deal to an 8-year-old boy charged with murder in the shooting deaths of his father and another man in their St. Johns home, court records show.
Complete details of the offer weren't spelled out in a court filing posted on the Apache County Superior Court's web site on Saturday.
But Apache County Attorney Chriss Candelaria wrote that he has "tendered a plea offer to the juvenile's attorneys that would resolve all the charges in the juvenile court contingent on the results of the mental health evaluations."
Candelaria was responding to a defense motion seeking to block him from dropping one of two first-degree murder charges the boy is facing for the shooting deaths of his father, Vincent Romero, 29, and Timothy Romans, 39, earlier this month.
Defense attorney Benjamin Brewer argued in a November 25 filing that prosecutors wanted the charge dismissed so they could refile it when the boy was older and press the case in adult court.
Brewer said the deal would resolve the case without it being transferred to adult court, although he declined to provide additional details. Although he is considering the offer, Brewer said he is unsure of his client's ability to understand the proceedings. At least two mental health evaluations are yet to be completed.
"It is going to be difficult to assess what (the boy) can or cannot enter into," Brewer said on Saturday. "But certainly we're looking at it." In Arizona, those convicted as juveniles can only be held until they turn 18. The law allows prosecutions of juveniles age 8 and above as adults.
The prosecutor explained in his response to Brewer's opposition filing that he wasn't trying to obtain an unfair advantage, but pressed for the dismissal because the judicial system just isn't equipped to deal with an 8-year-old charged with murder.
Police in the small eastern Arizona town of St. Johns found Romero and Romans shot to death after the boy ran to a neighbour's house on the afternoon of November 5. He was questioned after Romans' wife raised suspicions about him the next day, and in a videotape released by prosecutors he admits pulling the trigger. Romans worked with Romero and rented a room in his home.
Each man was shot several times with a single-shot, bolt-action .22-caliber rifle.
His grandmother told police that if any 8-year-old was capable of the crimes, it was him. Police reports say the boy told a state Child Protective Services worker that his 1000th spanking would be his last.
The boy is being held in a county juvenile facility, although he was allowed a 48-hour furlough to spend Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday with his mother.
Brewer said he is now back in custody. The next court hearing is set for December 8.