Trial Begins for Boy in Fatal Shooting of 10-Year-Old Playmate

The trial of a 12-year-old Pearblossom boy accused of fatally shooting a 10-year-old playmate began Wednesday with the defense attorney arguing that the manslaughter charges against the boy should never have been filed.

Frederic J. Warner said in his opening statements that the Oct. 22 shooting death of Thomas Hernandez was accidental. Hernandez died from a shotgun blast to the head.

“This case never should have been filed,” Warner said outside the courtroom, contending that prosecutors filed charges before completely reviewing the facts of the case.

Also on Wednesday, a prosecutor announced that he will try the boy, whose name was not released because of his age, for manslaughter. The boy was charged with homicide shortly after the shooting, but the type and degree were left undecided pending the results of an investigation by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies.

Chesley McKay of the district attorney’s office declined to comment on the case.

Both attorneys seem to agree on the facts of the case as reported by sheriff’s investigators. The boy was staying with neighbors while his parents were out of town. About 1 p.m. on Oct. 22, Hernandez, the 12-year-old and another friend climbed into the boy’s house through a bedroom window.

The boy found a shotgun leaning against a safe. Believing that it was unloaded, he picked up the weapon and cocked it. The gun accidentally fired once, sending a spray of pellets through a passageway into an adjoining room. Several pellets hit Hernandez in the head, who died instantly.

The 12-year-old ran to a neighbor’s house for help.

That evidence, McKay said, “will show this is a manslaughter.”

But Warner said that prosecutors must prove “aggravated, reckless and gross” negligence on the part of the boy to pursue manslaughter charges.

Warner said he will show during the trial that the shotgun discharged accidentally and that the boy did not intentionally aim the weapon at his friend, as prosecutors allege.

The trial will resume Monday.