RIVERSIDE, Calif., Oct. 31 (UPI) -- A Riverside, Calif., judge Thursday ruled a 13-year-old boy who killed his neo-Nazi father should be sent to a state-run facility for juveniles for seven years.
Judge Jean P. Leonard accepted prosecution arguments that the boy, whose name was not reported, needs to be in a structured environment, rather than a private residential treatment facility, as defense lawyers had argued for, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The boy, who has a history of violent behavior apart from the May 1, 2011, slaying of his father, will be eligible for a parole hearing when he turns 20 but could be released earlier if he is rehabilitated. His lawyers argued that in the event of rehabilitation, the boy will require services a state facility cannot provide.
The boy was 10 when he shot his father, Jeffrey Hall, in the head as Hall slept on a couch in the family's home.
He was convicted in January of second-degree murder and using a gun while committing a felony, which normally carries a sentence of 40 years to life in prison for adult offenders,
The defense argued during the trial that Hall -- a regional leader in the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement -- routinely beat his son and had threatened to set fire to the house with his wife and children in it, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Witnesses at the trial said the boy had engaged in violent behavior long before his father became an active member of the NSM, The (Riverside) Press-Enterprise reported.
