GUILTY AZ - Timothy Romans, 39, & Vincent Romero, 29, slain, St Johns, 5 Nov 2008 - #6

[e-sherlockholmes]

And that's why none of the parents should be told. There's no way he'll ever be able to live a normal life if people are raising holy hell because of his past everywhere he goes. The principal of the school and the foster parents are the only people who should be told about who he is.

I know this is not going to be popular with the PC crowd, but as unfortunate as it may be, I personally don't think a person like that will ever be capable of a normal life. Its because they are not normal to begin with. Even at his age when he first committed the crime. I don't believe in the 'kids are kids' excuse. I knew what I was doing when I was 8. Not as clear as I am now, but I knew right from wrong. Just because you are young, it doesn't give you a blanket excuse to do anything. A lot of the most heinous big mean adult criminals were once youngsters too. Sometimes juvenile monsters grow up to be adult monsters. I don't think its effective to just give youngsters a pass because they are young.

People like this juvenile criminal need to be told they are defective. Then you need to gauge whether or not they recognize their defect and want to do something about it so they can adapt to society and try to be normal. Fake it until you make it. Then you need to teach them methods of self control. Maybe its an underlying anger issues. Demons in his head (requiring medication). Whatever it is. Get that problem sorted out and prove that it can be under control. Only then can you release people like that back out in the public. JMHO.

 

[gitana1]

An Arizona boy who admitted shooting and killing his father and his father's friend aged just eight could soon be released into foster care and allowed to attend public school following a judge's ruling.
Christian Romero, who is now 15, became one of America's youngest murder suspects in 2008 when he used a .22 caliber hunting rifle to kill father Vincent Romero, 29, and Timothy Romans, 39.....

More at link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ublic-high-school-adopted-judge-s-ruling.html

I can't imagine finding anyone willing to provide foster care for this kid. I wouldn't.

I am new to this case, sorry if this has been covered already.. What was his motive for shooting & killing his father & his fathers friend? Was there a motive like continued abuse or did he do it "just because"?

You know, I read a book called "Why Kids Kill". The author, a psychologist, examined pretty much all of our famous kid killer cases here i the US and determined that pretty much each killer had suffered intense emotional ad physical abuse.

In this case, the boy kept a diary of all the spankings his father gave him:

An 8-year-old St. Johns boy charged with double-homicide may have kept a written record of spankings by his parents, vowing that the 1,000th would be his limit, according to a police records released Friday.
A search affidavit by Sgt. Lucas Rodriguez says the child "is believed to have made ledgers and or communicated in the form of writings about his intentions. (The boy) told a CPS . . . worker that when he reached one thousand spankings . . . that would be his limit. (The boy) kept a tally of his spankings on a piece of paper."
In a statement to police a day after the Nov. 5 killings, the boy said he had been spanked the day before the shootings because he did not complete a school assignment.
The juvenile is charged with shooting his father and a family friend, 39-year-old Timothy Romans, at the family's home in St. Johns.
According to the police records, family members were not surprised when told one day after the slayings that the boy had confessed to murder. Police Chief Roy Melnick says in his report, "I comforted them as best we could. After several minutes, (the boy's grandmother) shouted out in an angry and loud tone, 'I knew this would happen. They were too hard on (the boy).

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/11/26/20081126stjohns-boy1126-ON.html#ixzz3mJkCYaya​

I don't feel this was just a matter of a "bad seed". In most of these cases, the child is being subject to intense discipline.

​

Wow, this sounds like a troubled person. Why not just wait until he is 18 or 21? I don't think public school and a foster home with other children is the appropriate place for him. Maybe some type of group home/juvenile halfway house? And if he continues to have probation violations, particularly violent ones, he will have to continue to be in custody. Sounds like he continues to need PROFESSIONALS to deal with him 24/7, and while I love and admire foster parents, they are not trained or equipped to deal with this ... nor are public school teachers with a room full of other kids to teach and discipline.

I agree. Despite what I think happened to this kid to help make him what he became, I don't think this is a safe situation, especially considering his history during treatment. I think mental health professionals sometimes really just want to see successful treatment. But the problem is that just being able to "connect" with a counselor, or whatever, is not enough to prove that a kid who murdered two people in cold blood - abused or not - is safe to move about in society.

Especially in his teen years - the time when kids have zero frontal lobe development and cannot control their impulses well.

I do believe in rehabilitation for young offenders. But I don't think 6 years or so is enough to undo whatever created the 8 year old killer. He needs more help.

 

[Donjeta]

The article in the OP said they were looking for a "therapeutic foster home" so it sounds to me like they don't think they're through helping him, just looking to help him in a different environment where he can connect with a family instead of staff.

But probabbly it's going to be quite difficult finding such a place.

 

[SophieRose]

From 2009:
http://archive.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2009/02/20/20090220stjohns0220.html

As his weeping mother looked on, 9-year-old Christian Romero pleaded guilty to negligent homicide in the shooting death of Tim Romans, 39. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to never charge the boy in the death of his father, Vincent Romero, 29.

County Attorney Michael Whiting said he agreed to the plea because Christian likely would have been found incompetent to stand trial. In that event, state law would have required the boy's release without any supervision or restrictions until around age 15, when he could be tried as an adult. Now, Christian faces judicial supervision until he turns 18.

 

[SophieRose]

From 2009:
http://archive.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2009/02/20/20090220stjohns0220.html

As his weeping mother looked on, 9-year-old Christian Romero pleaded guilty to negligent homicide in the shooting death of Tim Romans, 39. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to never charge the boy in the death of his father, Vincent Romero, 29.

County Attorney Michael Whiting said he agreed to the plea because Christian likely would have been found incompetent to stand trial. In that event, state law would have required the boy's release without any supervision or restrictions until around age 15, when he could be tried as an adult. Now, Christian faces judicial supervision until he turns 18.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/02/19/20090219stjohns0219ONL.html

Charges of premeditated murder were dropped in exchange for the plea to negligent homicide, or a reckless killing.

But if Christian violates any of the terms of his sentence, the charge in his father's death could be reinstated.

 

[jjenny]

The article in the OP said they were looking for a "therapeutic foster home" so it sounds to me like they don't think they're through helping him, just looking to help him in a different environment where he can connect with a family instead of staff.

But probabbly it's going to be quite difficult finding such a place.

Well I sure wouldn't want that kid living close to me.

 

[TheDuchess]

I was heavily involved in this case when it happened and my heart went out to this little boy. Note that this little boy still believed in Santa Claus! His biological mother was in and out of his life and has a long history of making bad decisions and not being there for this child. His father was from a close family, but when he remarried something changed. I believe the step-mother insisted on very harsh treatment of the boy and obviously, the boy had had enough. While some may not think spanking is abuse, it is when it is delivered due to completely unrealistic expectations and emotional abuse. I think this child was spanked and punished for even the littlest of perceived infractions. If I remember correctly, he expected a spanking because he did not bring home a note signed by the teacher stating he was perfect in class or something to that effect.

In my opinion, that home created him, an angry and abused little boy with access to a loaded gun. How sad that this child felt there was no other way out of his situation. An absent mother, a stepmother who hated him, and the father who failed him.

The only person I truly feel for is the other man who was killed. Apparently, the boy called him in so that he could ambush him. I think he likely felt he needed to kill him in order to get away with it.

 

[wendybtn]

This child had the huge loss of his mom at age two. Security and safety compromised mentally, probably forever. Then dad brings in a woman with two daughters. Then his dad rents a room to his friend. Who was left for Christian? No one. Who is for him now? Some workers who will sign off his case when he turns 18. Trouble coming. Has his being a sociopath been ruled out? He has the perfect set-up for him, plus the genetics from his unstable bio mom. I realize we cannot predict the future, but I can make an educated guess. Sometimes I think people who work closely with these troubled people get fooled and diminish what brought the person to them. If he is a true sociopath, he can make himself appear anyway he needs to, to get what he wants, especially to those he spends the most time with. This is an incredibly dangerous game juvenile services is playing.