Boy, 10, guilty of beating homeless man

[deadparrot]

Source: Associated Press

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - A 10-year-old boy was convicted Thursday in the beating of a homeless Army veteran that left the man so severely injured he required reconstructive surgery.

Prosecutors say the boy, another 10-year-old and Jeremy Woods, 17, ganged up on John D'Amico, 58, as he and a friend walked through a Daytona Beach neighborhood on March 27. The older man was beaten and stoned with a concrete block.

Circuit Judge John Watson found the boy guilty of aggravated battery and set sentencing for May 24. The boy, who appeared in court in shackles and an oversized jumpsuit, could be held in the juvenile system until he turns 21 if the judge considers him a habitual offender, or he could be given probation or counseling.

D'Amico, who still has a bandage over his left eye, testified that he never provoked the boys as they claimed.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/homeless_beating

[villager]

1. Ah, the Republican Youth League in action...

n/t

[Red Zelda]

2. You're so classy, America

[YOY]

3. It's like a page out of "Jim Henson's Psycho Babies"!

n/t

[wakeme2008]

4. After reading what this "boy" did to a guy on the ground

I only hope Bubba makes him his new boy toy.

[Twillig]

6. I thought I'd seen everything on DU.

Until now.

[wakeme2008]

7. Defense witness

A 10-year-old boy was found guilty Thursday in the beating of a homeless Army veteran that left the man so severely injured he had to undergo reconstructive surgery.

Ironically, it was a witness for the defense, a neighborhood man, who gave the most damaging testimony. The man said he watched the attack from a few feet away. He said he saw both youngsters standing over D'Amico and throwing stones and bricks at him.

Watson said: ``The youth worked in concert with after the victim was down, having fallen over the wall and at a time when the victim was in a defenseless position, and threw not only rocks, but bricks.'

http://www.miamiherald.com/416/story/102397.html

[Der Blaue Engel]

9. The child did a horrible thing and is likely seriously disturbed

So you want him to be raped.

Just trying to see if I've got this straight.

[JVS]

16. Flame me if you must people, but I am against children being raped

It just doesn't sit well by me.

[Forkboy]

18. But rooting for it is all the rage these days!

[TommyO]

29. What he did was absolutely reprehensible, but to advocate prison rape

is just as bad.

[LeftishBrit]

40. I agree - that shocked me

The child's act was horrible, but do we need to reduce ourselves to the same level?

He may be a sociopath; he may be psychatrically disturbed; he may be an abandoned or near-abandoned child who has fallen into the hands of older criminals (e.g. the 17-year-old; surely he is the more reprehensible person in this case). It may be that he is violent because he has ALREADY experienced treatment similar to that which was recommended here!

At any rate, he needs to be kept away from society until he is no longer a danger, but I would hate to think that a 10-year-old is beyond hope of rehabilitation.

[Donnachaidh]

5. Gotta ask -- where's the parents?

Actually, it seems Mommy showed up - but where is the Dad?

Speaking as a parent, BOTH parents should have the same pain inflicted on THEM as the vet. And THEN take the kid away. Let Junior Big and Bad get a REAL taste of jail, followed by living as a ward of the courts, if they let him out.

[davekriss]

13. Horrible post

Why would you add to the tragedy by inflicting pain on the parents? That makes no sense at all. For all you know, the kid could have the best parents in the world but suffers from an organic brain disorder, e.g. early onset rapid cycling bipolar disorder (as one of my three adoptees suffers from), and crashed out a back window unbeknowst to the parents. Perhaps the parents themselves are diminished by illness or poverty and are less capable than you.

"Cease to do evil; try to do good" goes an old Buddhist saying. There'd be far less need for the latter phrase if more of us adhered to the first.

[Twillig]

15. In the history of DU there have been far worse.

In this thread in fact.

[MrPrax]

17. How do liberals sleep at night these days?

Does that shit still work? Scrapping the bucket for ANY excuse for the inexcusable? Organic brain disease? Poverty? Anything else? Perhaps?

It's getting a little insulting to poor people, dontcha think?

Poor people ARE only people who have less money?

Could you flesh out that connection please between a sociopath and not being able to buy THE best wines? I've heard liberals discuss this connection for decades and decades as they moved into gentrified neighbourhoods that all of a sudden get regular police patrols, improved response times and a whole lot of that 'stuff' liberals promised the poor folks that used to live there?

You know, to continually run the same intellectual defenses of the same criminal sociopaths gangs that terrorize poor peoples' neighborhoods by blaming them for lack of law enforcement, lack of services, lack of proper wages, etc.? That cheap trick?

So what was the reason NOT to haul guardians of these animals into court as well? Oh that's right -- too many of the wrong parents would be doing time and most of them wouldn't be poor.

[davekriss]

20. Rubbish

I did not say don't haul the parents into court. Some serious investigation into the family circumstances is in order.

Much of your post makes no sense to me. Connections between sociopaths and not being able to buy the best wines? Same intellectual defenses? You must've mistaken me for someone else.

"It's getting a little insulting to poor people, dontcha think?" And you would know? Have you had to navigate the artificial barriers in our healthcare system that have to be surmounted to get mentally ill children into proper care? Do you have any notion of the difficulties? It is not easy. I know, because that is my world.

I have 2 adopted daughters plus a foster care child whom we will soon adopt. One is seriously bipolar disordered, the second is autistic, and the third is ADHD. The bipolar disordered daughter committed seriously violent acts in her early years (before she was 10). Bipolar disorder is an organic brain disease. I suppose you agree with the poster above and think my wife and I should be pummeled because our daughter wasn't able to control herself prior to getting the right medical cocktail (and after 4 years in hospitals)? Again, you would know?

To post that the parents of a seriously behavior disordered 10 year old should have the same pain inflicted on them as the 10 year old horribly inflicted on a homeless person -- well, it reduces us to the moral and emotional level of a 10 year old, doncha' think? And so the cycle continues...

[Donnachaidh]

25. Oh park the High Horse already

Yeah - we GET that you adopted problem children. Why are YOU turning a totally different situation into a showcase for your own personal sainthood?

Try taking your ego out of the equation and look beyond your own well-dressed inner stage. Parents that allow their children to run the streets and act like animals SHOULD be asked to be responsible.

This story ISN'T about you.

[davekriss]

32. I am painting a scenario

where the knee-jerk response to "punish the parents" is absurd. It happens. You have no idea.

But I'll go the other way too. Perhaps the parents are 110% culpable. They neglected their son, allowed him unfettered free reign, no instruction and no discipline. Perhaps also they modeled violent behavior in the home. I still think it is morally preposterous for someone to assert that the State should subject the parents to the same pain the boy inflicted on the homeless guy. Violence perpetuates violence, it is an endless cycle. Most likely the parent's should lose all parental rights, and if there was child abuse and neglect they should be punished accordingly. To my knowledge, beatings and torture are a bit beyond the sentencing guidelines.

My previous post painted the scenario of the possibility of mitigating circumstances for the parents, suggesting we wait before we judge. Even without them, I strongly disagree with the poster who would perpetuate violence.

Hatred ever kills, love never dies such is the vast difference between the two. What is obtained by love is retained for all time. What is obtained by hatred proves a burden in reality for it increases hatred.
-- Gandhi

[Der Blaue Engel]

22. How do conservatives sleep at night these days?

Let us know.

[MrPrax]

23. Ah yes...

A walking talking example of exactly the problem liberals have; they've done nothing but fall back on whatever greasy classist trick they can use to manage avoid class discussion.

That's right -- everyone is conservative if they happen to LOOK at reality plainly and not accept the same 'apologia' people who are liberal happen to accept.

So when confronted by a specific type of crime that is growing in frequency, has no immediate class context, no immediate gain other than gratification, and is directly a challenge to the phony 'Great Society' vision of liberal corporatist, it becomes either 'disease' or 'lack of male role model' or 'the challenges of poverty' or 'drugs' or a whole host of cheap ploys to ignore the fact that poor people are just as much against crime as people in the suburbs.

Is that the conservative part -- liberals think they own the poor and homeless and know what's best for them...like conservatives?

[davekriss]

33. BTW, I'm not a liberal

I'm a neo-Buddhist-anarco-syndicalist-charismatic-Christian.

I agree with you. Violence is pandemic. We have 10 year olds pummeling homeless people; we have Presidential candidates making fun of redeemed born-again Christians on death row; we have a pResident who lied us into an illegal and immoral war and says things like "bring 'em on" and calls the initial carnage "shock and awe" (that Bush thought "awe" would be one of the outcomes says alot about his developmental delays!).

Bush lied and 3,300+ military men die, as well as up to 650,000 Iraqi's. I don't see you up in arms over that. A 10 year old pummels a homeless man to the point where reconstructive surgery is required and you're posting "no excuses throw away the key!"-type posts. Before we speak of accountability I think we need to hold our "leader" accountable. Bring him under oath in impeachment hearings. Convict him if he has indeed commited high crimes and misdemeanors. Then, and only then, I could be persuaded that the parents (GWB's) should be punished too!

[Der Blaue Engel]

37. That's very interesting

You continue to say "problems liberals have," a grammatical construction which implies you do not belong to the group you are maligning.

YOU set yourself up as other than, better than, not one of us naughty, bleeding-heart liberals who express concern about the poor and the homeless (which you immediately deem some claim to ownership).

So please tell us how YOU prefer to identify, because that would really add to YOUR greasy deflection.

[Donnachaidh]

24. nice to know that people are still sllowing people to sluff off RESPONSIBILITY

Let's forget the FACT that this *child* beat another human being with a cement block. What's HORRIBLE is the people parading around acting like plaster saints still don't get it. Better buy a case of that halo polish.

[davekriss]

31. And why, pretell

would we subject the parents of the abberant boy to the same pain that the boy subjected the homeless guy to? THAT is what I am objecting to, not a DFS type investigation potentially leading to a termination of parental rights, and long term lockup in a hospital for the boy.

People see what they want in others' posts, not what is written.

[LeftishBrit]

41. A 10-year-old DOESN'T have the same level of responsibility as an adult or older teenager ...

If the 17-year-old encouraged the act, then he is much more responsible.

A child who is capable of being that violent needs to be locked up for the safety of others, and if possible treated. But a child, however wicked his acts, is still not an adult.

[NaturalHigh]

8. This little POS needs real jail time.

This is one of those rare times that I think a kid is just a bad seed.

[KittyWampus]

34. A Ten year old child hanging out with a seventeen year old.

Sounds like perhaps (don't know all facts here) PERHAPS the child was looking for an adult figure in his life.

Almost killing a full grown adult?

Maybe (MAYBE, just conjecture) the kid is taking rage out on someone other than his parents.

I don't know. Just wondering.

A 10 year old hanging with a 17 year old.

When I was in school, I couldn't go over anyone's house unless a parent was home.

[Renew Deal]

10. How is it that we have homeless Army Vets in 2007?

How is that possible. I strongly believe that our soldiers should be given the world after serving in combat.

[LeftishBrit]

42. That's another important point...

and I hope that at least everyone here can agree on that one.

Terribly sad that this happened at all.

I hope the victim makes a full recovery - physically and psychologically. Then I hope that he gets the help that he needs and deserves.

[JerseygirlCT]

11. He had to learn this kind of hate somewhere. How sad. nt

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

12. Time to bring back spanking

Funny how this kind of juvenile violence shit suddenly became so common once hands-on parental punishment went down the tubes. If the little shit had had his heiney warmed with a paddle a few times during his formative years (which, please note, he is still in the middle of) he just might have become a better-behaved example of obedient youth.

A pity the new generation of "parents" (and I use that term with all derogatory intent) cannot understand that. Pills over punishment, anybody? Drugs over discipline? Why the hell not? It's just the next generation of spoiled zombies we're talking about!

Anna three, anna two, anna one... FLAME ON!!!

[otherlander]

14. I don't think that would have helped.

If he did become more obedient it only would have been out of fear of punishment. It wouldn't have changed the fact that, inside, he was a violent, psychotic little fuck with no empathy, sympathy, or sense of the worth of a human life.

There are ways of disciplining children without hitting them. And there are some parents who don't disciplin their children at all, when they should, but these parents could be the best parents in the world, and the kid would still be a rotten little fuckwad. Children aren't blank slates. They have thier own natures.

[Eric J in MN]

19. You know that he wasn't spanked, how? (NT)

NT

[Le Taz Hot]

27. Hitting a child to teach

him not to hit. Riiiigggghhhhhhht. :crazy:

[Triana]

21. ...and a homeless vet to boot. WHY are raising a generation of..

..psychopaths like this kid?

Frankly, I think he ought to get life in prison. He obviously has NO conscience and is a danger to society because of it.

EDIT: After reading some of the other responses. HIS PARENTS ought to be in prison right next to him.

[LostinVA]

26. The boy could be a sociopath

If he does indeed have such a personality disorder, then he cannot be cured or rehabbed, and is a threat to society. And, therein lies the rub.

:sigh:

[Javaman]

30. That's more likely the answer...

Growing up in a tough neighborhood NYC when I was a kid, I was daily put into positions to defend myself from any number of "nutjob" kids who felt the need to beat up on me or other kids.

These kids just weren't right in the head. They required no reason at all to suddenly find something wrong with me or anyone else to take out their psychosis on.

Good parents, bad parents, sometimes doesn't make a difference. some kids are just born mean and evil.

Until some sort of court appointed exam is done up this kid, I'm going to reserve my judgment, but this bizarre new trend in society of kids beating up on the homeless is to say the very least extremely disturbing.

Have our kids been dumbed down so much, have there attention spans been shorted to the point, have their sense of personal morals and ethics reduced virtually to nothing that this is a form of entertainment for the uneducated, unintelligent bunch on the far end of the bell curve?

I weep for our society because for the few of these kids that are caught and tried, there are many more that get away with it and are never caught. We are breeding a new generation of hate, but a type of hate that scares the crap out of me. A hate based in boredom and self entitlement. A hate born of not wanting to achieve better but instead to exploit the defenseless.

This nation and it's leader* obsess on promoting a veneer of religious morals in the pursuit of votes and power but never really deals with the very real daily problems in our society. They ignore the gradual decay of our basic ethics and morals at the same time trying to play a "can you top this" game of who has more character.

This moral facade, these hollow pillars of ethics they espouse have created nothing more that broken dreams and lost hope that as permeated the population to the point that frustration and violence is the end all be all to solve a persons frustration.

The pain perpetrator inflicts upon the defenseless is a pain that they can control and it's an anger that they can expel out of frustration of a rudderless society.

It starts with the homeless, I fear for the next level.

[LostinVA]

36. Good post

And, I agree: we are seeing an upswing in these types of attacks. Why? Can all of these kids be sociopaths? I really, really hope not.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

43. I doubt it.

There would be no biological reason for the amount of sociopaths in society to change. It has to be some other reason.

[speedingbullet]

28. Tough Call

I wonder how a 10 year old gets so full of hate. The kid has committed a serious crime but one would hope that at such a young age the kid can be salvaged. I'm sure part of the solution is likely a foster home after the initial incarceration or treatment. The nut doesn't fall far from the tree.

[KittyWampus]

35. hanging out with a 17 year old might help. No one has yet commented on that fact/

so sad, no matter what all the facts are.

[Judi Lynn]

38. Found a photo of the little bastard in the Miami Herald.

It's photo #2 in this group of 10 news photos:

http://www.miamiherald.com/841/gallery/103595.html

(Caption appears if you point the mouse at the very top line of the photo.)

[Lydia Leftcoast]

39. Get a grip, people. I'm appalled at some of the responses on this thread

We've got law-and-order conservatives in disguise on this thread, and too few of the posters have stopped to consider these points:

1. The kid is ten years old. MAYBE he's a sociopath. Maybe he's just an angry child who's been abused. Maybe he's on the streets raising himself (it happens), and the 17-year-old is his surrogate family. Maybe the parents are both violent and filled with hatred for anyone who is different. Maybe he's a budding paranoid schizophrenic. We just don't know from the article. The proper way to handle him depends on what caused him to attack the man.

2. What about the 17-year-old? Did he egg the kid on to do the beating? Was that his form of sick amusement? Did he just stand by and think, "Whatever." In any case, the 17-year-old was much more responsible for the situation, both in fact and under the law. He could have stopped the TWO (yes, there were two, weren't there?) ten-year-olds from beating the homeless man if he had wanted to.

3. Yeah, what about the other ten-year-old?