Boy, 6, Charged With Trying to Murder Baby

A Contra Costa County prosecutor charged a 6-year-old boy Thursday with attempted murder and burglary in the beating of a 4-week-old baby, saying there is “no doubt in my mind” that the boy “knew that what he was doing was bad” when he allegedly attacked the infant.

Along with the 6-year-old, twin 8-year-old boys who allegedly also entered the baby’s apartment in their Richmond neighborhood to steal a tricycle were charged with burglary.

Most legal experts say they know of no other instance in California where children so young have been charged with crimes so serious.

Harold Jewett, head of the Contra Costa County district attorney’s juvenile division, filed the charges after Monday’s beating of Ignacio Bermudez, who was kicked, pummeled and hit with a stick after being taken from his bassinet.

Detention hearings for the three are scheduled for today in nearby Martinez.

Speaking for the first time Thursday, the infant’s parents avoided calling for vengeance.

“I don’t want to see anything happen to that child because he also has a mother and she would suffer very deeply, just as we are suffering,” the baby’s father, Ignacio Bermudez, said through an interpreter.

Meanwhile, the infant remained in critical condition Thursday at Children’s Hospital in Oakland, where he was breathing with the help of a respirator and on anti-seizure medication.

Doctors said the month-old boy, who suffered multiple skull fractures, had begun to show some deliberate movement, which could be a good sign, but almost certainly will suffer some permanent physical and brain damage.

Speaking from the hospital, the boy’s father said he was angry that children were running unsupervised through the neighborhood that night.

Bermudez said he has spent the past few days “crying and thinking.” His wife, Maria Carmen Bermudez, 33, said nothing could take her pain away.

The family said they had been living in their neighborhood without fear until Monday’s beating. Now, they said, they want to move, but can’t afford it.

The parents and their three older children were out grocery shopping at the time of the beating. They said they left the infant at home with his 18-year-old stepsister because he had a cough.

“I never thought I was leaving him unprotected,” Ignacio Bermudez said.

In Richmond, a blue-collar community southeast of San Francisco, the shock of what took place Monday continued to reverberate.

The Chamber of Commerce and the Police Department have established funds for donations to the family. Churches and concerned residents were planning a prayer service and vigil at the Bermudez home at 8 p.m. tonight, said Michael Mattos, principal of St. Cornelius Catholic School in Richmond.

“It is beyond me,” said Mattos, who spent years working with juvenile delinquents before going to St. Cornelius. Mattos said the Catholic Church holds that the “age of reason”--when a child can know the difference between right and wrong--is 7.

Still, he said, “I would think that these children didn’t know the consequences of their act. . . . The answer would not be to put them in prison. It would be to provide counseling, to work with them.”

But just as Richmond was having a difficult time trying to cope with so vicious a crime committed against one so young, the legal system struggled with the technical problems of a case involving such young suspects.

Police and court officials said it will be up to a juvenile court judge to decide where to keep the boys until they are tried. It is unlikely, they said, that the children will be returned to their homes, but they said that the juvenile justice system is ill-equipped to deal with such young offenders.

“If I see . . . somebody 12 or 13, I think, ‘Oh, how young.’ The norm is 15 and up,” said Deputy Public Defender Laura Green of Los Angeles. “I have no idea what you would do with a child that young.”

The judge could return the boys to Contra Costa Juvenile Hall in Martinez--where they became that facility’s youngest residents when they were taken into custody Tuesday--place them in foster homes or in a group home, said Terrence Starr, chief probation officer for the Contra Costa Juvenile Hall.

Jewett declined to discuss details of the case, beyond saying that his decision to file such serious charges was based on police interviews with the young boys.

“After looking specifically at the question of whether the 6-year-old knew the difference between right and wrong, I came to the conclusion, and there is no doubt in my mind, that he did know the difference,” Jewett said in a telephone interview. “He knew that what he was doing was wrong, he had a concept in his mind of what right and wrong were and he did the wrong thing.”

Earlier in the week, Jewett had said he would give great weight to any evidence the police presented that the 6-year-old tried to hide his crime.

“I don’t know that there is evidence of trying to hide the crime, but once the police got involved, there was a lot of crying, a lot of fear expressed by these boys,” said Sgt. Alec Griffin, public information officer at the Richmond Police Department. “They were serious. They were scared.”

If he is convicted on the attempted murder charge, the 6-year-old faces a maximum sentence of 11 years in Juvenile Hall. The 8-year-olds face maximum six-year terms. But because of their ages, any juvenile court judge who hears the case will have great leeway in determining punishment or treatment, Starr said.

“Those people who hope that something awful is going to happen to these kids are going to be disappointed,” said Starr. The judge will decide the fate of all three boys “based on what is in the best interest of the boys,” he added.

Starr said he received “some pretty bizarre phone calls” Thursday from people outraged by the assault. “One guy called and said, ‘If you want me to, I’ll go in there and beat them with a stick.’ ”

Since arriving at Juvenile Hall, Starr said, the boys have taken classes five hours a day, but have not yet been interviewed by psychologists.

If they are convicted, the boys would become wards of the state and could be returned to Juvenile Hall or placed in specialized group homes with a high level of supervision, Starr said. Wherever they go, they are likely to receive intensive counseling and psychological care.

When it comes to suspects so young, “there are no set guidelines,” said J.P. Trembly of the Youth and Adult Corrections Agency. “The court has to make a call. It is a very gray area . . . In terms of coming to [us], it doesn’t happen. We just don’t have the staff, the training or the facilities to deal with it.”

According to the California Penal Code, there must be clear proof that the person understands its “wrongfulness” at the time of the crime to be held criminally culpable. State appellate courts have rarely dealt with cases involving children younger than 10. But in one case, a state court of appeal held that a 9-year-old who shot and killed a 14-year-old could not have known the gravity of the crime, and thus could not be held responsible, said Deputy Dist. Atty. David Disco, head of juvenile prosecutions in Los Angeles.

“Ten or 11 is awfully young. We’re talking about pre-pubescent,” said Los Angeles County Deputy Public Defender Lisa Greer, who handles appeals for the office. “At 6 and 8, we are at the point of developmental absurdity in terms of the criminal system.”

Richmond Police Sgt. Michael Walter said Wednesday that the three boys had confessed to entering Ignacio’s apartment Monday night, when the infant’s baby-sitter was in the bathroom. Walter said they told police they beat the child before making off with a Big Wheel tricycle that belonged to Ignacio’s older brothers, who are ages 3, 2 and 1. The police say that the attack lasted no more than two minutes.

Walter said police believe that the 6-year-old came up with the idea of stealing the tricycle and instigated the attack on the infant. A neighbor saw the boys leaving the apartment and took the tricycle away from them, he said.

Curtius reported from San Francisco and Morain from Sacramento. Associated Press also contributed to this story.