Plea Deal for 9-Year-Old Accused Killer

Feb. 13, 2009 — -- A 9-year-old charged with killing his father and another man has been offered a plea deal by Arizona prosecutors that would spare him any jail time.

Defence lawyer Benjamin Brewer says the deal would mean no time in the state juvenile corrections system for the child.

Brewer declined to offer specifics, including what plea the boy could enter and whether it would involve the two counts of premeditated murder he faces.

A change of plea hearing was scheduled for next Thursday but Brewer said his client must still accept the deal.

The boy was arrested and charged after police said he used a .22-calibre rifle to kill his father, 29-year-old Vincent Romero, in November.

He also shot 39-year-old Timothy Romans, a co-worker of Romero's who lived with the family in St. Johns, Ariz. The boy, 8 at the time of the shooting, has been in and out of juvenile custody since his arrest.

A spokesman for the Romans family, John Andreas, hasn't objected to the boy receiving treatment, but he said yesterday that the boy should be jailed until he's at least 18.

Romans' two daughters weep over their father's grave each weekend on the San Carlos Apache Reserve and anxiety attacks awaken Romans' wife at night, he said.

The boy, who has pleaded not guilty, acknowledged in a videotaped police interview that he shot the men.

He told police that he had been spanked five times the night before the shootings because he didn't bring home some papers from school.

While in custody, he told a state Child Protective Services worker that his 1,000th spanking would be his last, according to police reports.