Boy, 10, Spared Imprisonment in Killing of Brother

A 10-year-old Bellflower boy who admitted killing his brother with a steak knife last year has been spared imprisonment, but must live under home curfew and undergo extensive psychological counseling, possibly until the age of 21.

At a Juvenile Court hearing Tuesday, the boy was placed on probation at home in his mother’s care. Among other conditions, Judge Cecil J. Mills ordered that the child attend school and earn satisfactory grades and obey his mother and probation officer. He also is prohibited from leaving his home between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.

The judge based his decision on several expert psychological opinions that said the boy was capable of leading a productive and normal life, and that the impact of the brother’s death has been profound.

If the child violates any of the judge’s conditions, fights or breaks the law, the third-grader can be ordered into a home or detention camp for juveniles, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Doyle.

“I think it was appropriate,” Doyle said of the sentence, or disposition as it is known in Juvenile Court. “All I really hope for is he won’t commit any more crimes and that the counseling will help.”

Much of the counseling will be provided through his school and probation officers, Doyle said. The boy’s mother also must undergo counseling.

The boy was 9 at the time of his brother’s death last September, making him perhaps the youngest person in Los Angeles County to admit to a charge of homicide.

Initially, investigators believed that the brother, 11, had died as the result of unsupervised horseplay and that he had fallen on the knife in a freak accident. But after interviewing the surviving brother and another boy who witnessed the incident, sheriff’s detectives called it an intentional stabbing.

The boy has not been identified, because of his age. In addition, the judge placed a gag order on lawyers in the case, as well as members of the boy’s family, barring them from discussing the case or describing the exact charge against the boy. Doyle said, however, that the boy admitted to a type of homicide charge.

The defense lawyer, Dean Masserman, said he believed the decision was fair and compassionate. He suggested too that the boy did not set out to kill his brother.

“It’s always been our position that a 9-year-old could not have formed the specific intent to kill,” Masserman said. The mother, he said, was still mourning the death of her 11-year-old, but was very glad that she would now be able to help her surviving son.

After the incident last year, friends and neighbors said they were shocked by the news because they always believed the boy was nice and that he was close to his brother.

On Tuesday, at least one neighbor said her view hadn’t changed.

“I know deep down in my heart that he didn’t do it on purpose,” the neighbor said.

She said that she would not worry if the defendant were to play with her son again and that the sentencing was appropriate.

The boy is now considered a ward of the court, and his probation status will be reviewed every six to 12 months. Unless court officials decide to terminate his probation during one of these review periods, it will automatically end when he turns 21.

Doyle said he would object to any proposal to terminate the probation before then.