Boy, 6, Denies He Shot Girl, Shifts Blame

With little more than his eyes and nose visible over the witness stand, a 6-year-old boy denied Friday that he shot classmate Kayla Rolland to death and blamed another first-grader.

The boy testified at a preliminary hearing for Jamelle James, 19, who is accused of carelessly storing the semiautomatic handgun that the 6-year-old boy found and allegedly used to kill Kayla on Feb. 29. James is charged with involuntary manslaughter; the 6-year-old who testified isn’t charged.

The boy had to be coaxed into the witness box and barely spoke above a whisper for the 45 minutes he was on the stand. Often he answered questions simply by shaking his head, looked at the floor or stared blankly at the lawyers.

Judge John L. Conover chatted with the boy and his 8-year-old brother about sports and television to determine if they were competent to take the stand. Before the boys testified, Conover ordered all cameras, microphones and a sketch artist out of the courtroom.

The 6-year-old testified that he had seen James playing with the gun and demonstrated how James twirled it in his hands.

The boy said he had seen the gun and some quarters in a shoebox in James’ room--an answer he gave after prosecutor Daniel Stamos reminded him that that was what he had told police.

The boy said he remembered Kayla being shot. But when asked if he shot her, he shook his head no and blamed another boy to whom he said he had given the gun.

“I wasn’t playing with the gun, I wasn’t,” the boy said.

During a break, Stamos also said some of the boy’s testimony differed from earlier interviews with prosecutors, but he wouldn’t elaborate.

He told reporters the inconsistency was normal for a young witness.

The boy’s 8-year-old brother, wearing a nearly identical outfit of blue pants and white dress shirt, appeared much more at ease, answering questions audibly, smiling and swiveling back and forth in the chair.