LOUISVILLE, Ky., Oct. 7 (UPI) -- A Louisville, Ky., teenager pleaded guilty to killing his father against the advice of his lawyer, who argued the boy was too mentally ill to enter a plea.
Jefferson County Circuit Judge Geoffrey P. Morris disagreed with court-appointed lawyer Carlos Wood and accepted the plea of Dewayne Bryant, 16, who is being prosecuted as an adult.
Bryant told Morris he would accept the prosecutor's offer of a 30-year prison term in exchange for a guilty plea.
A child psychiatrist earlier said Bryant, who attempted suicide in July, is suffering from an early onset of schizophrenia.
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Wood argued that Bryant's father, 36-year-old Jermaine Bryant, had beaten his son and committed other acts of violence, including suspected sexual abuse.
On the day of the killing, the elder Bryant had threatened to kill Dewayne Bryant -- a threat the boy took seriously, Wood said.
But Bryant rejected using his circumstances as part of a possible defense, Wood said.
Last year, when Bryant was 14, he fatally stabbed his father, then tried to set the body on fire and hide it in their apartment, the charges against Bryant allege.
Bryant is also charged with tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse, The (Louisville) Courier-Journal reported.
Wood said Bryant had offered little reason before the plea to explain why he wanted to plead guilty, other than that he wanted to leave the Louisville Metro Youth Center, where he was held since his arrest, and to avoid prolonged news coverage of a trial.
"I'm afraid (Bryant is) going to regret what he did today," Wood told the newspaper.
