Tale of Abuse Told at Boy’s Murder Trial

A dreary portrait of battered innocence was painted Tuesday in the final trial testimony of a 14-year-old National City boy accused of murdering his father.

Psychologist Kenneth Ryan described the boy, whose identity has been ordered withheld by Juvenile Court Judge Federico Castro, as a youth who grew despondent as his father’s attempts at discipline deteriorated into child abuse.

“He was a young man afraid of his father, based on experience,” Ryan said, relating to the court the results of psychological tests administered to the boy about two weeks after he shot and killed his father, Lepolious Miller III, at the boy’s home Oct. 28.

“The young man was experiencing a tremendous sense of fear,” Ryan said. “There were times he hated himself, because of that fear.”

Father and son had argued earlier about a report card the boy hid because it contained a failing mark. Although a court restraining order had been issued against Miller, barring him unsupervised visits or taking any disciplinary action against the boy, the father nonetheless administered a spanking hours before the shooting. The boy lived with his grandparents.

During the monthlong trial, which was delayed several times because of scheduling problems, witnesses for both defense and prosecution said Miller’s control over his children verged on obsessive.

The alleged abuse began at a young age, when the boy failed to heed Miller’s word, witnesses said. It grew more serious as the boy developed a teen-ager’s taste for independence, witnesses testified.

Because of the abuse, the former seventh-grade student at Granger Junior High School became “shy, withdrawn, highly anxious and nervous . . . with low self-esteem and little sense of self worth,” Ryan said. “He is a quiet young man who got himself into an unfortunate situation.”

But is he a murderer?

In a summation to the judge, Deputy Dist. Atty. Carlos Armour acknowledged that the boy may have been subjected to abuse, but said the boy was not in danger when he fired a single bullet into Miller’s chest.

Citing testimony, Armour said the boy and Miller spoke for several minutes before the shot was fired. During the exchange, the boy repeatedly shouted, “I hate you! I hate you!” Armour said. The father’s response was, “Put down the gun,” according to the prosecutor.

“The factual issues are not that much in dispute,” Armour said. “The minor, by his own statement, acted in anger. . . . He thought by shooting his father he would be getting rid of his problem.”

Armour said the defense case attempted to shift focus from the boy’s culpability to Miller’s longstanding failures as a parent.

“I think anyone would cringe to have their parenting skills scrutinized on the witness stand,” Armour said. “We are not here to decide whether he was raising his children right.” In defense of Miller, Armour said: “Lepolious Miller would not have been my first choice to teach a parenting class, but there were signs that he had changed, and that he was trying his best. . . . He wanted to teach his sons it was rough out there, to help them avoid the same pitfalls he got caught in. He didn’t want them to follow in his footsteps.”

On the boy’s fear of being beaten, Armour said outside of court: “That’s a motivation for killing, not a defense.”

Judge Castro is scheduled to reach a decision by May 28.