Two boys, aged 12 and 13, have been found guilty in Arkansas, after being charged with murdering a teacher and four pupils in their school last March, and have been committed to the custody of juvenile authorities.
In Chicago, two boys aged seven and eight have been charged with the killing of an 11-year-old girl, Ryan Harris, who was also sexually molested. 9928313 During the hearing in Chicago, the boys drew with coloured crayons on a legal pad. At one stage the eight-year-old was asked to stand on a chair so that a witness could see him properly.
Judge Gerald Winiecki ruled that there was probable cause to try the boys for the juvenile equivalent of first-degree murder and ordered them detained overnight in a psychiatric hospital.
Ryan Harris disappeared on July 27th as she was riding her bicycle in the run-down Englewood area of Chicago where she was staying with her godmother while attending a holiday day camp.
Her body was found the next day in a nearby wooded area. The cause of death was asphyxiation.
When the boys were questioned by police, they said that they saw a strange man lure the girl into his car. However, after further questioning they told police a different story.
The eight-year-old was riding his bicycle with the girl whom he knew when they met the seven-year-old who was his friend in an alley. There they threw rocks and knocked the girl off her bicycle.
A detective testified that the seven-year-old told him that the boys moved the girl's bicycle to the wooded area and hid it. Then they both dragged her to the same area. The detective said the younger boy said that they began to play with the girl "very softly". They pulled her panties down and put them in her mouth. They also rubbed leaves and branches around her mouth and nose and, according to police, the girl was also sexually molested with an object.
The detective said the eight-year-old said he ran off home when he saw the younger boy play with the girl's body.
One of the defence attorneys said it was a "reckless prosecution" of a childish prank which went horribly wrong and there was only evidence of the rock-throwing. Neighbours who knew the boys described them as well-behaved and could not believe they could commit such a crime.
If found guilty as juveniles, the boys can be held until they are 21.
Meanwhile, Mitchell Johnson, on his 14th birthday, and Andrew Golden (12) went on trial in Jonesboro where in March a teacher and four pupils were shot dead and nine others injured in a school yard after a fire alarm was set off. The two boys, who were also pupils at the school, were charged as juveniles with the killings and woundings.
Johnson pleaded guilty but the lawyer for Golden said the boy should have been allowed to plead insanity at the initial hearing and did "not understand the nature of the proceedings".
Judge Ralph Wilson rejected the plea and after a two-hour trial found Golden guilty. A sentencing session was fixed for later.
The pair can be detained until they are 18 but if Arkansas builds a special facility they can be held until they are 21.