RIVERSIDE, Calif., Nov. 1 (UPI) -- A 12-year-old California boy on trial for the death of his father allegedly shot him because a TV show made him believe he wouldn't be arrested, police say.
The boy, whose name was not reported because he is a minor, is charged in the death of neo-Nazi leader Jeff Hall inside their Riverside home the morning of May 1, 2011, The (Riverside, Calif.) Press-Enterprise reported.
In court on Wednesday, Riverside County prosecutors played a video of the interview with the boy in which he says he decided to kill his father because an episode of the show "Criminal Minds" led him to believe that he would not be arrested.
"A bad father did something to his kids and the kid did the exact thing I did -- he shot him," the boy said. "He told the truth and wasn't arrested and the cops believed him. He wasn't in trouble or anything. I thought maybe the exact same thing would happen to me."
The boy said he was worried that his parents were going to get a divorce, and he wanted to end up with his stepmother, Krista McCary, not his father.
"I thought it would be a good idea to end it -- to shoot my dad in the head," the boy said in the video. "I shot him because I was upset. He was always taking off. He also hit me."
The boy's 11-year-old sister took the stand Wednesday morning, and testified that her brother told her about his plan to kill Hall four days before the shooting.
If convicted, the boy could be held in a state juvenile facility until he's 23.
