Juvenile in Vale shooting case is arraigned
12-year-old charged after his mother suffers gunshot wounds
By JESSICA KELLER
ARGUS OBSERVER
Friday, November 16, 2007 10:41 AM PST
VALE — The arraignment hearing for a 12-year-old Vale boy accused of shooting his mother Oct. 30 was held Thursday at Malheur County Circuit Court.
Because the young boy is a minor many of the details of the case remain a mystery, and the shooting incident itself was not discussed at the arraignment.
A pre-trial hearing was set for 3 p.m. Dec. 10 and a “agree-deny” hearing, where the boy will agree or deny the charges presented, was set for Dec. 13.
During the Thursday court session, Malheur County Circuit Court Judge Patricia Sullivan read the charges filed in a petition by Malheur County Deputy District Attorney Josh Dolton, assigned to the juvenile court, Oct. 31.
Sullivan said, if he were an adult, the boy would be charged with second degree assault, which is a class B felony. According to the petition filed to the court, “the said youth did unlawfully and knowingly cause physical injury to his mother, Terri Flint, by means of a deadly weapon ... by shooting a firearm.”
The petition does not indicate what the firearm was or how many times it was used. After the incident, Terri Flint, was flown from Holy Rosary Medical Center in Ontario to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, and was released a few hours later. Sullivan told the youth, who was flanked by his defense attorney Steve Stoddard and a relative, if he was an adult and found guilty, he could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. If the boy was 15 and found guilty, he would face a mandatory sentence of 70 months in jail. As a 12-year-old, however, Sullivan said, if the state proves the case against him and he is found guilty, he could become a “ward of the state” and he could be placed in secure confinement up to his 25th birthday. The boy told Sullivan he understood the charges against him. Also during the arraignment, the boy’s release agreement was reviewed by the court. The boy, after the shooting occurred, was taken into custody and held at the Ada County Juvenile Detention Center. He was released Nov. 1 into the custody of his grandparents, with the conditions of his release set. According to the conditions of his release, he is required to wear an electronic monitoring device, which also includes a GPS system. Another condition of his release was his grandparents’ home could not contain any firearms.
Stoddard asked the court, in light of the upcoming holidays, if the release agreement could be amended to allow the boy supervised visits with his mother. Terri Flint was not present at the arraignment.
“We’ve discussed it with his mother, and she thinks it’s appropriate also,” Stoddard said.
Dolton said the concern of the district attorney’s office was the visits were supervised by “an objective party,” and questioned whether, by allowing family members to supervise the visitation, that would be accomplished. A compromise was reached to allow the boy to visit with his mother only under the supervision of his grandfather or under supervision at his grandparents’ house.
Stoddard mentioned, every year the boy’s family has a Thanksgiving gathering at another family member’s house, and asked if the boy could be permitted to attend that if he was supervised. Sullivan conceded that he could, so long as all firearms were removed from the house and that was verified prior to the gathering.
Sullivan also asked whether the boy had been attending school, which he has not.
“Well, I don’t want to keep him out of school indefinitely,” Sullivan said, adding initially she was concerned about comments being made to the boy from his peers.
Sullivan was told the boy’s grandfather had been receiving his grandson’s school assignments daily, and he has been completing that at home, which Sullivan said she was satisfied with.
Sullivan asked the youth how he felt about attending school and whether he was concerned about it, to which he replied “not really.” Stoddard told the court he was in the process of having an evaluation of his client completed, which would be submitted once it was finished. Sullivan agreed the boy’s schooling would be reviewed at a later date.
