Milwaukee – Attorneys spent hours on Tuesday, Oct. 8, arguing whether a 12-year-old Milwaukee boy accused of shooting and killing his mother should be prosecuted as a child or an adult.
The boy’s lawyers contended that the law charging children as adults for certain acts is unlawful.
Their client, who is now 12 years old, was 10 when he was charged with shooting and killing his mother. Prosecutors allege she refused to let him have a virtual reality headset. The fatal shooting occurred in November 2022 in a residence at 87th and Hemlock. Prosecutors charged the boy with first-degree deliberate homicide.
“We’ve seen firsthand how charging a child as an adult has caused problems,” said Angela Cunningham, the defense attorney. “We’re in the heart of mass incarceration. Period. We need to examine our laws and the impact they are having on the Black population, particularly Black youngsters.
“The defense hasn’t proven anything for the court to take the actions it’s requesting,” Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney Gilbert Urfer stated. His defense wants the case returned to the juvenile system, claiming that is where the youngster will receive the greatest care.
“The inadequacy of the [adult] system is overwhelming,” Cunningham stated.
They also want the judge to rule that sending these cases to adult court is unconstitutional in the first place. “Pure speculation that it wouldn’t meet his needs, what we know now is he has no formal diagnosis,” Urfer told CNN. “Opportunity to be at LH for a significant time if convicted.”
A professor from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee testified that state data reveals Black kids convicted as adults for this crime are less likely to complete behavioral or cognitive programming.
“What I discovered was still a fairly low likelihood of completing the program if enrolled, and even lower for some individuals,” UWM Department of Criminal Justice & Criminology Assistant Professor Theodore Lentz stated. “In general, it seems like programming, there’s not a lot of access.”
However, any ruling on these issues will have to wait until at least mid-to-late next month. Judge Jane Carroll stated that is when she will make her decision from the bench.