Boy accused of killing father to spend Thanksgiving at home.

In a move that drew criticism from the family of the second victim, an 8-year-old boy accused of killing his father and another man in eastern Arizona will be allowed to spend Thanksgiving with his mother.

Eryn Thomas, the mother and her son, sat beside each other in court Wednesday in St. Johns, often leaning over and whispering into one another’s ear. Wearing a navy blue shirt and pants, the boy was free from the cuffs he wore in a previous hearing.

Prosecutor Brad Carlyon objected, citing concerns about the safety of the public, after Judge Michael Roca agreed to allow the boy to leave juvenile detention from noon on Nov. 26 until noon on Nov. 28.

Defense attorney Ronald Wood said the boy said it was important that the boy “have somebody to talk to” because he is not doing well and has trouble sleeping in detention.

The boy is allowed time to visit with his mother, stepmother, a grandmother and an aunt, but Wood said that time is limited.

If the boy doesn’t return to detention on time, arrest warrants will be issued for him and his mother, the judge said. While the boy is home, the boy should not be allowed to watch TV or play video games and Roca also ordered that there be no guns or knives in the home while the boy is free. “Let’s see how it works,” Roca said.

There are two counts of murder pending against the boy in Juvenile in the Nov. 5 shootings of his father, Vincent Romero, 29, and Timothy Romans, 39, a co-worker who was renting a room.

Romans’ wife, Tanya, and her family were upset that the boy will be let out for Thanksgiving said a friend of Romans’, John Andreas, outside the courthouse.

Andreas said, “The family is very distressed. They don’t get Tim back, they don’t get Vinnie back. But this boy gets to go home, as their lawyers put it, get to have gravy, turkey, and do whatnot.”

Roy Melnick, St. Johns police Chief, has said that he would push for the boy to be tried as an adult and prosecutors have 15 days to decide if that’s the route they want to take.

“Anything discussed between the boy and the counselor would not be admissible in court,” the judge said, while granting a defense motion to provide counseling services for the boy.

Thomas lives in Mississippi but said Wednesday in court that she is staying in St. Johns. However, she left the courthouse without commenting to reporters

At the time of the shooting, the boy was living with his father and stepmother, who were married in September. The father had primary custody of the 8-year-old.

A police video released Tuesday shows the boy telling two investigators that he fired at least two shots at each of the men, which supports the statements by police that the boy confessed. But he also gave conflicting reports of his actions that day.

The boy was not represented by a family member or lawyer during questioning which led defense attorney, Benjamin Brewer, to say that police overreached in their questioning of the boy.

Since the court issued a gag order, authorities and defense attorneys have been unable to answer questions about the case. Media attorneys argued Wednesday that the gag order is overly broad and asked that it be lifted. Judge Roca denied that request and placed limits on some public records, ordering that written transcripts be substituted for audio and video recordings. There will be a status conference in the on Dec. 8.

It saddens us at TicosLand.com, Costa Rica’s leading web directory, to know these things are going on, not only in the USA, but also in Costa Rica and all over the world. The murderers are getting younger and younger each time. It speaks volumes about the general deterioration of societal morals and values.

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