E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSView more videos at: http://nbclosangeles.com.
In May 2011, a 10-year-old boy allegedly executed his father as he slept on the living room couch in their Southern California home. The victim, Jeff Hall, was a white supremacist leader and the West Coast director for the National Socialist Movement.
On Tuesday, the trial began in what prosecutors call "a case that shocks the conscience."
Attorneys for the now 12-year-old boy, who has admitted to the killing in his Riverside home, blame the murder on the neo-Nazi environment. They also say the boy’s stepmother encouraged him to pull the trigger.
But prosecutors argue the "cold, calculated murder" was totally unrelated to neo-Nazism.
Read the original report | More from NBCLosAngeles.com
Before he was a white supremacist, Jeff Hall was a construction worker in the Inland Empire. Family members described him as "loving" and a "good father" at that time.
His son, who would later kill him, apparently was not loving or good, according to prosecutors.
They pointed out that officials kicked the boy out of as many as nine elementary schools for bad behavior. He allegedly stabbed a teacher with a pencil once and choked another with a telephone cord.
Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com
Prosecutors say the boy told his younger sister he would shoot their father two days before he did. She will testify later in the trial.
In a taped interview between the boy and a detective shown in court, the boy can be heard saying that he killed his father because he’d had enough of his father’s abusive behavior.
Attorneys expect the trial to last two weeks.
If convicted, the boy could be jailed until he is 23. He has pleaded not guilty by reasons of insanity.
Leave a Comment:
This boy obviously needs some serious mental help. Unfortunately, he will more than likely just be incarcerated for a long time, and incarceration has little or nothing to do with rehabilitation.
he is 12 now ...11 years is not a long time.............and with an insanity defence it could be even less should some shrink magically pronounce him "cured"
The prosecutor calls it a "cold, calculated murder." If you are, or know, 10 year old boys, they are NOT capable of any of the kind of calculations needed for murder. The boy may have wanted the abuse by his facist father to stop, but that's about the extent of his thought process.
When a 10, 11, 12 year old does something they should not, you ask them why they did it, they answer, "I don't know." They are telling the truth. The don't think, they don't calculate, they just act.
Wait an second... So your telling me..... this "loving" and "good father" (at the time) is now a scumbag racist poo-stain and his kid (who im sure wasn't willing to go any further living with this mans "agenda" and hatred towards others) takes poetic justice into his own hands and wipes the world of one less idiot who judges people based on skin color.... and they want to "prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law" ???? Sounds like the Judge, Jury and prosecution are closet case Nazi's aswell. This kid wanted the madness to stop.... so he stopped it. He is not the monster they are trying to play him out to be... his father was.
Considering he told his sister two days before that he was going to do it. and he killed his father when he was sleeping ...i would consider that calculating........Also stabbing and choking teachers i would consider "cold". So yeah i think the prosecutor got it right...If you are that ignorant to think (most) kids are the same as yester-year then you have a rude awakening coming.
dirp, I do not think you give 10 year olds enough credit. Or maybe you do not know 10 year old boys they can be very devious and calculating. I was sympathetic right up until I read he had stabbed a teacher and choked another that is a disturbed child that has gone very wrong.
"Sounds like the Judge, Jury and prosecution are closet case Nazi's aswell." Because they don't believe that people they dislike should be open to murder with no consequence? Just because the man was a jackass Nazi, that doesn't mean we should turn a blind eye to him being murdered in cold blood in his sleep.
The boy was growing up in the shadow of his father, a hatred spouting, violence supporting racist neo nazi. How would you expect this kid to be a "normal" loving child when surrounded by all this violent talk all the time? Children hear everything that goes on in a home and are a reflection of what they see and hear. What he heard made him who he is, a bully, vicious, dangerous and anti social human being. Whether he can ever be a normal person after being exposed to ten years of hate is the question. Frankly I doubt it.
If the mother was urging him to do it, why is she not being brought to justist in this with her son????
for a cold blooded calculated MURDER? you gotta be $hittin me.............
It appears the cycle of abusive behavior continues as passed down from father to son.
And further pushed by the state.
You are so right and that's why we will have Murders Continue on & on & on & on
I can't help wonder what kind of abuse this entire family suffered at the hands of the neo-nazi father. Coming from an abusive childhood I know how that can be. This guy is better off dead before he caused worse damage.
Karma
It is obvious to me that this kid has some serious psychological issues and it appears he had them since birth. He doesn't need to be on trial, he needs to be hospitalized so they can figure out what's wrong with him. He does not have the mental capacity at 10 years old to be a "cold, calculating murderer". The prosecutor is a drama queeen!
Sounds to me like this child never had a chance with the parents he was stuck with.
You need a license to hunt, fish, drive a car and so many other mundane things we do in this society yet any piece of crap with working plumbing can have a baby. How sad.
But what is the alternative? Forced sterilization of people deemed to have ideologies we don't want taught to kids?
even if steril they will still infect our youth.
"Reap what you sow"....
Honestly, I feel for the boy because he had no choice in selecting his family.
Having said that, I believe it should be the FAMILY that should be footing all his bills through his eventual release, for failing to appreciate the gift of having a child, and not the STATE!
This child has some very serious issues,that he has probably had all of his life. He got kicked out of all these schools,and yet thats all that was done? Was his home not investigated? He needs to be punished for killing his father,but he also needs help. If he was abused,and I believe that he was, he should have been able to alert someone. Maybe his acting out at school was his way of asking for help! Again, I do not believe that we are hearing the whole story,but alot of people let this boy down! Now,hes a murderer! Sad!
My brother and I were abused by our insane mother until the day she died. We begged for help for years and were called liars for saying such terrible things about our "good mother". I hope there's a full investigation of the family life because it sounds like the mother and sister totally agreed with this boy's actions.
Neo Nazis in Riverside,Califas..He musta been a closet nazi...Give the kid counseling and no jail time..Ain't that how it works in Califas..Oh Yea,and a scholarship to Berkeley...
At ten years old, the boy will be prosecuted as a Juvenile. The State loses jurisdiction when ANY child reaches 23 in California, the age varies from state to state. That said, how did a child who has been kicked out of school at least 9 times for bad behavior, choked a teacher with a telephone cord and stabbed another with a pencil not receive psychological counselling LONG before now. This killing was as predictable as rain in Spring.
Yes, something was very wrong with this kid, but think who and what his father was. Not the kind of parent who might have thought the boy needed any help considering the faher's own attitude .Hate begates hate. I'll bet if you check, the school or the authorities cannot order therepy for a child without the parent's approval.
Well...sounds to me like procecuters are trying to make a abused childed pay for his abuse...Classic .They want to make political name on the life of others....In this case I think perhaps the kid should be locked up and observed for a while...His jail time has been served to live with the ideology of raceist and bigots is like a mind incarceration...TIME SERVED
Saw this on 60 minutes I think. 10 years in the pen for killing his Nazi father. Oh yeah, that is going to straighten him right out. No more problems there. Spending your childhood with convicts works every time.
Isn't that the truth, he'll learn life living skill's, like how to break into peoples homes, make drugs and items for usage, forgery and so forth, and God for bid how to molest someone younger than you or weaker. I hope what ever they do with this child, that he does get the help he needs, and if the mother was behind this that she never sees the light of day again for using her already upset son. he is the perfect scape goat a minor, if she wanted her husband dead; she would not be the one spending jail time or worse.
They clearly stated " They also say the boy’s stepmother encouraged him to pull the trigger." he pulled the trigger for his step-mother as she stood beside him telling him to pull the trigger" ... and ??? so when a 10 yo boy listens to his step-mother..is crazy. And let's see..I bet Dad beat them both! Ok so mom get the insurance money and the young child goes to prison....ah what's wrong with this picture? Has most americans lost their minds?
Yes
Yes, we've lost our minds for the love of money!
this child acted out of total peril for his life and the life of his mother. he might need psychological help......no jail!!!!!!!!!!!!
A lot of issues here. Was the stepmother charged with having a gun that was accesible to children? That is a crime in Kalifornia. Are there medical records documenting a pattern of abuse. How old was the younger sister at that time? Did the stepmother convince the sister into saying she as told befoehand? If the boy had just been beaten just before making a "I'm going to kill that SOB" that statement fits the situation.. What would you say after being beaten by someone? What part did social services play in this boys alledged violent tendicies? And, "supose this NAZI was destin to become the next Hitler....The boy is a hero to all humanity. This story will make a great movie.
When you have two entirely different sides to the story like this, I think the truth is usally somewhere else, either in between the two, or completely different. There isn't enough in the story that is proven yet to make any accurate assessment. Was this child abused? Maybe. He probably felt he was, but what 10 year old doesn't? Just because his father had racist prejudices doesn't actually mean he was abusive to his children. It's easy to want to assume that racists are wholly bad, abusive, wastes of flesh, but many of them actually are very attached to their families, and I'm sure there are plenty you wouldn't even realize were if the topic didn't come up in conversation. Remember, it's what is different from them that they hate. I harbor no defense for a racist, especially a neo-Nazi leader, but I'm not going to presume that he abused his kid only because the kid says so. Where is the proof of abuse? If there was abuse, it usually isn't hard to find the evidence. If there was abuse as the child claims, even premeditated murder of your abuser can be argued as self-defense when were talking about a child that doesn't feel he has the option to leave. There's still a lot of different ways this story can unfold, but for certain this kid will need major counseling regardless of guilt.
I agree with you on alot of this, sometimes the abuse is only directed at the mother and not the children ( I have been there) but some times it is all who live in the home, and could include an elderly parent. Not always is there awearness of the fact that abuse is going on, no doctor's, hospital or police reports, no nabors knowning or other family members knowning as they do not know what is taking place in the home behind closed door's, there is no pruff, but that does not mean it is not there, what about people who make their kids kneel on wet rice or beans all night long and do not let them sleep?? It happens and alot of people get away with this, like the mother who shoved hot peppers up her child's behind for punishment it left no out side marks- no one knew- she was such a loving parent- sadly through the child never got to grow up- he passed away from one of her treatments, and she did not get what she truely deserved from the law, and his death was the only pruff of the abuse he had been suffering his whole short life no other reports, and if he had grown up no one would know how much he had suffered at the hands of his parent. Than again on the other hand there are those, there is a million and one reports and records of abuse and nothing is done untill it is way to late for the victums, and sometimes not always the abuser's. It's a catch 22. Also if the step mom was urging him to pull the trigger, maybe he really did not want to kill his dad, and was pushed into it- and did she give him the gun, and why is she not on trail- probly already got the insurance money (if there was any) and spent it. and him being 10 would not be punished as his step mother would of if she had pulled the trigger herself. Just some of my thoughts, she wanted him out of her life and used the kid as her scape goat.
No one knows what goes behind closed doors !!!! UnfortunatelyI came from a good catholic family and what went on behind those doors to me is a lifelong sentence.. No one knows..
Give this kid a metal for ridding us of Nazi scum.
I love this kid. SO MUCH. And his awesome stepmom. I only wish she'd have had the courage to do it for him, so the kiddo doesn't have to go through the torture of the court and juvenile jail system. I LOVE THIS KID!!! Please, parents, teach your children to be like this kid.
This is a perfect case of you reap what you sow, children live what they learn.
Raise a kid in a hateful and unhealthy environment and what do you expect??
Sad all the way around, with no good outcome. This child was raised in a house of hate, and he has learned to hate. His father probably deserved to die, but reality is that the child is probably too far gone to be rehabilitated. Not only the murder of his dad, but his previous violence says he is a very dangerously disturbed person. I would not want him living near me when he gets out at 23.
I say good riddance to bad rubbish. Racist Dad is dead, kill the boy and stop the cycle in that family. The Step Mom should go also, none of them will be missed and the world would be a better place without them.
Brought up in a totally dysfunctional environment. A bad seed was planted from the start. You reap what you sow.
Your just as dead if a 10 year old or 20 year old killed you. This kid has some serious problems and could be a threat to others in the future. I think he should be kept away from others until hopefully helped over the next 10 years or so. If he is let out too soon and kills again then the system is also responsible. He must be taught that this is not acceptable behavior by anyone and never tolerated. Unfortunately some give excuses to everyone but the person that should be accountable for their own actions.