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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

The Vox Box

What’s on your Record?

How about a 9-year-old boy charged with murder? You might've heard about the Arizona boy who confessed on video to killing his father and another man last November with a  .22-caliber handgun obtained from his house. At the time he was 8-years-old, and heading home from school. He told police he decided to walk around the block "like nine or 10 times" before going home -- something he does on Mondays and Wednesdays "because my mom doesn't get off until 5."

In the confession video the boy denied shooting the men first but later confesses that he shot both men twice, saying, "After I shot him once he was still moving, I think I shot him again."

The officers ask whether the boy was mad at his father, but the answer is not audible.

On Thursday, the boy pleaded guilty to one count of negligent homicide. The boy will remain in the custody of the state until he is 18. He will undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine whether he should be placed in a juvenile detention center; in a therapeutic facility; in a foster home or with his mother, who is divorced from the boy’s father.  

What do you think? Should the boy had been charged as an adult? If the boy is not convicted of any other crimes before he turns 18, the county will clear his juvenile record; is this fair? Though the motive for the killings remained unclear, there was no evidence that physical abuse had taken place in the home before the shootings like some speculate.



In 2006, then-editor Steve Smith of The Spokesman-Review had the idea of starting a publication for an often forgotten audience: teenagers. The Vox Box was a continuation of the Vox, an all-student staffed newspaper published by The Spokesman-Review. High school student journalists who staffed the Vox made all content decisions as they learn about the trade of journalism. This blog's mission was to give students an opportunity to publish their voices. The Vox Box and the Vox wrapped up in June 2009, but you can follow former staffers' new blog at http://voxxiez.blogspot.com.