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Thursday 5 May 2011

10-year-old accused of killing neo-Nazi father may pursue insanity defense, his attorney says (USA)

An attorney for a 10-year-old boy charged with murder in the fatal shooting of his father, a local neo-Nazi activist, on Wednesday told a Riverside County Juvenile Court judge that the boy may pursue a defense of not guilty by reason of insanity.

The sandy-haired boy appeared in Juvenile Court shackled and wearing a bright orange shirt and khaki pants, with his stepmother, biological mother and grandmother sitting on a courtroom bench behind him. Judge Charles J. Koosed postponed the boy’s detention hearing for two weeks and ordered that he  continue to be held at juvenile hall.

The boy has been charged as a juvenile for the shooting death of his father, Jeffrey R. Hall, a regional director for the National Socialist Movement. Hall was shot around 4 a.m. Sunday morning while on the living room couch. Detectives believe the shooting was an “intentional act."

Detectives with the Riverside Police Department said there were no reports of an argument or other incident before the shooting, and police have never responded to any domestic disturbance calls at the Hall residence. Hall, 32, has five children including two from a previous marriage.

Continued at the  LA Times Blog