Lawyer for boy accused of killing mom asks to lower bail to what he has in his piggy bank
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Jane Carroll refused to lower the amount from $50,000 and also placed travel restrictions on the boy should he post bail.
Prosecutor Paul Dedinsky asked Carroll to require that he be released into the custody of a family member if he is released, but that restriction was not imposed.
Since the boy has been charged as an adult, Cunningham argued it would be “unheard of” to require a defendant in adult court to stay in the custody of a family member on pretrial release, the Associated Press reported.
The judge appeared to agree with Cunningham and required the child be placed on GPS monitoring if he gets out of juvenile detention, where he is being held.
The 10-year-old, who family members said has struggled with significant psychological issues, is facing alternate counts of first-degree intentional homicide or first-degree reckless homicide. His attorneys asked that the court drop a second count of reckless homicide, calling it redundant, according to the AP.
The charges stem from a Nov. 21 incident where the boy allegedly shot his mom in the face after she would not purchase an Oculus virtual reality headset for him from Amazon. After her death, he reportedly got on the account and purchased the video game.
The judge ordered that he not be placed in shackles or any other kind of restraints. She also forbade media outlets from publishing any personal information about the child, including pictures and his home address.
The boy will be back in court Jan. 19 for his next hearing.