12-Year-Old Boy Charged in Slaying of Playmate

Prosecutors charged a 12-year-old Antelope Valley boy with murder Tuesday in the shooting death of his 10-year-old playmate.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michelle Rosenblatt said the type and degree of homicide alleged will not be determined until Los Angeles County sheriff’s detectives finish investigating the Sunday afternoon slaying of Thomas Hernandez. Authorities said the investigation should continue into the week.

Once the investigation is complete, Rosenblatt said, the charge will specify one of four possible offenses: first-degree murder, second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter.

She said the focus of the investigation “relates to the intent of the perpetrator. It relates to state of mind.”

Rosenblatt said that in some cases of accidental death, prosecutors have the option of declining to file charges. But in this case, she said, “we have established that the elements of a homicide exist.”

Although Rosenblatt declined to be more specific, a sheriff’s deputy on Monday said the boy was being held on suspicion of murder because “he committed an inherently dangerous act” by pulling back the hammer and aiming the shotgun at Hernandez.

Hernandez died instantly after being hit in the head by a shotgun blast, detectives said. The suspect had been staying with a friend while his parents were out of town, but he, the friend and Hernandez entered the house through a window. Once inside, the 12-year-old picked up the shotgun in his parents’ bedroom, cocked it and aimed it at Hernandez, according to investigators.

Authorities have declined to say whether the boys were playing with the gun or whether there was a fight or argument before the shooting in the semi-rural community of Pearblossom.

The suspect is being held at Sylmar Juvenile Hall, where he will be arraigned Wednesday. Under the rules of juvenile procedure, the boy’s lawyer will either admit or deny the petition filed by the district attorney’s office, the equivalent of an adult pleading guilty or not guilty.

If a minor denies the petition, the case goes to trial before a judge. If a minor admits the petition, a judge renders a disposition.

The range of possible sentences for a minor involved in a homicide includes probation, placement in supervised custody such as a boys home or the home of a relative, detention in a probation department youth camp or incarceration in a California Youth Authority facility.

At Wednesday’s hearing, the judge will have the option of deciding whether the boy should remain in detention or be released into the custody of parents or relatives, Rosenblatt said. That decision is based on arguments by lawyers and criteria including the conditions at a minor’s home and whether the minor is considered dangerous or needs the court’s protection, Rosenblatt said.

Prosecutors and detectives are reluctant to discuss details in the Hernandez case because of confidentiality rules governing juvenile cases and because of the boy’s age.

“We’ve had years of experience with murders, but this is all kind of new to us,” said Detective Gil Carillo, a veteran Sheriff’s Department homicide investigator. He said the 12-year-old is the youngest person accused in any murder case he has encountered.

In 1986, a 10 year-old girl who admitted strangling an infant she was baby-sitting became the youngest person to face the charge of murder in Los Angeles County. She was charged with second-degree murder and sentenced to an indefinite period of time at a psychiatric facility.