With no motive found or confessed to, a 15 year-old boy has been found guilty of shooting his sister to death while she slept and has been sentenced to 45 years of prison time, as reported by the Associated Press for Google News and others.
While his parents went grocery shopping, C.H., of Arkansas, took his father's .22 caliber rifle, entered the bedroom of his sleeping sister, pointed, aimed and shot her in the forehead. C.H.'s sister woke at that first shot, and let out a scream, but C.H. continued to fire two more bullets into her head until she lay still.
From there, while his parents had yet to return that January morning, C.H. fled his home in his father's pickup truck – after first grabbing more ammunition and clothes. C.H. headed into the hills, then turned around and ended up in the parking lot of a sheriff's station.
Then, before entering the building, he left the parking lot and went to a friends house to get some chewing tobacco. Allegedly bolstered with more courage, C.H. returned to the sheriff's station and confessed.
State police investigator Corey Mendenhall, wrote in a transcript that C.H. said, "I don't know why I did it. It just happened."
According to the Associated Press, after gaining the interview transcripts, C.H. recounted the events of the shooting and told Mendenhall that he deserved the same fate as his sister.
C.H. allegedly said, "I should get done to me what I did to her."
C.H. was charged with first-degree murder by prosecutors – a charge that carries a maximum penalty of life in prison without parole if found guilty.
Working with C.H.'s defense attorney, prosecutors worked out a plea bargain. On June 6 a judge sentenced C.H. to 30 years in prison for second-degree murder with an additional 15 years for using a gun.
Judge William Pearson asked C.H., "You stated that you murdered your sister. Is that correct?" C.H., through his tears, quietly responded, "Yes, sir." Then the judge asked how far C.H. got in school before he left, and the boy said "ninth grade."
The only hint at a motive, or at least to C.H.'s state of mind, was that he was angry because his parents had grounded him for using chewing tobacco. At the thought of stuck at home for a few days, C.H. stared at his bedroom walls and festered.
C.H.'s prior experience with a gun was in shooting deer. After the confession Mendenhall said to C.H., "You've got to be angry to be able to shoot a gun at somebody. I mean, you're used to shooting deer and stuff and I know you're, you're not angry at the deer. But we're talking about your sister here. Do you love your sister?" To which C.H. replied, "Yes."
Bill James, C.H.'s attorney said that there is a history of mental illness in his client's family. C.H.'s mental examination showed signs of depression since he had been jailed. James added, "Every time I've ever seen him, he's cried. And it's not, 'Woe is me.' It's about what he's done to his mom and what he's done to his family."
Charged for the first time with a crime seemingly too heinous to argue? With your future at stake it's best to contact a criminal defense attorney with the experience you need.
