Milwaukee boy charged as an adult, accused of killing mom for not buying him a VR headset
(CBS/AP) -- A 10-year-old Milwaukee boy is being charged as an adult for the death of his mother.
The boy is accused of shooting his mother in the face after she refused to buy him a virtual reality headset.
The boy's attorneys asked for his bail to be reduced to $100, saying it's the only money he has.
"My team and I have spoken with him about his ability to post anything. He told us about piggy banks with savings that he had from gifts, from birthday gifts, and scavenging through cushions in the couch that he's been able to save up," said attorney Angela Cunningham.
However, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Jane Carroll kept his bail at $50,000. She also imposed travel restrictions on the boy, should he be released.
The boy initially told police that the Nov. 21 shooting was an accident, according to the criminal complaint. But later he said he intentionally aimed at his 44-year-old mom before shooting her because he was upset that she woke him early and did not buy him something he wanted, according to the complaint.
The boy was charged as an adult last month with alternate counts of first-degree intentional homicide or first-degree reckless homicide.
Wisconsin law requires children as young as 10 to be charged as adults for certain serious crimes, though the boy's attorneys can seek to move the case to juvenile court. The boy, who family members said has mental health issues, is being held in juvenile detention.
The prosecutor in the case, Paul Dedinsky, asked the judge to require the boy to be released into the custody of a family member should he post bail. The judge did not impose that restriction.
The boy's defense attorney argued that it would be "unheard of" to require a defendant in adult court to stay in the custody of a family member on pretrial release.
Carroll appeared to side with Cunningham on Wednesday, saying that if he is released, he should be placed on GPS monitoring.
The boy mostly kept his head down during the hearing. Carroll ordered that he not be placed in shackles or any other kind of restraints and forbade the media from publishing any personal information about him, including his image and address.
