A 12-year-old boy appeared in court Tuesday, March 12, at the Milwaukee Youth and Family Justice Center.
He's accused of killing his mother over waking him up early and not buying him a VR headset at the end of 2022, when he was just 10 years old.
The boy is being charged as an adult with 1st Degree Intentional Homicide. His trial will be handled in adult court unless a judge intervenes. If a judge approves a "reverse waiver," the trial could go through the juvenile court system instead.
Milwaukee police officers who interviewed the boy say his story changed several times, from believing he was handling a confetti gun, to saying the gun accidentally went off.
Initially, a detective admitted he allowed the boy to be released into the family’s care believing the incident had been an accident.
A judge is hearing testimony before deciding which system is best suited to deal with the case.
The boy's defense team says he suffered a concussion and is on the schizophrenia spectrum. A child psychologist testified about what might happen to a young person who goes without treatment for those symptoms.
In order to keep the trial moving forward through the juvenile system, the boy's defense team needs to prove that the adult system does not have adequate treatment options for him.
TMJ4's Andrea Albers is attending the hearing and will have updates to this story this afternoon.
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