12-Year-Old Guilty of Murder: Killed Neo-Nazi Dad as He Slept (VIDEO)
A 12-year-old has been found guilty of murder, after killing his white supremacist neo-Nazi father two years ago.
Joseph Hall was in fact only 10 years old when he shot and killed his father, Jeffrey Hall, 32. The boy's father was the regional director of the National Socialist Movement in California.
Hall has been found criminally responsible for second degree murder at his trial, which focused centrally not on whether or not he committed the crime, but whether he had a clear grasp of what was right or wrong.
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Following the guilty verdict Hall could be sentenced to a juvenile facility for more than a decade until he reaches 23 years of age.
Hall shot his father from point blank range with a .357 Magnum as he slept on a sofa in their family home in May 2011. His defense attorneys had argued that he was not criminally responsible for the crime, and initially pleaded not guilty by way of insanity. However, they later changed that plea and dropped the claims of insanity.
An expert witness at the trial had told the judge that Hall had been conditioned to violence through years of physical and emotional abuse. The psychologist even suggested that it was probable he had been subjected to sexual abuse, according to The Daily Telegraph.
Those claims seemed to match up with what Hall had told police during questioning, as he had claimed to them that he did not think he would get in trouble for shooting his dad.
He also pointed to the TV show "Criminal Minds," and in one episode in particular where a child kills his abusive father and was not arrested.
Officials in the case have also revealed that the young boy's sister initially tried to cover for her brother, telling investigators that their stepmother had told her brother to kill him. However, she later changed her story and admitted she had not been truthful from the start.
The young boy has also informed investigators of his alleged motive for killing his father. He has said that he committed the crime so that he could bring a stop to the abuse he was handing out in the home.
Prosecutors meanwhile had argued that it was a clear cut case of murder, and that Hall had killed his father after coming to believe that he was planning to divorce his stepmother. Hall was allegedly close to his stepmother.
Prosecutors also highlighted an incident in kindergarten when Hall stabbed a teacher with a pencil, to show that he had a history of violence.
Further evidence that emerged in court came from Hall's younger sister, who claimed that Hall had been plotting to shoot his dad days in advance of the actual murder.
Here is a video of "Criminal Minds" Season 7 opening credits:
