Arizona's Dilemma--A Boy's Childhood Dies With His Father

He is eight years old and charged as an adult for the murder of his father, Vincent Romero, and his father´s friend, Timothy Romans. One body was found in a doorway, the other upstairs. Hmmm, no signs of trouble in school that we know of, but a little withdrawn recently says his mother. No blatant indication that this young boy was troubled; but two men are dead and he confessed. Now the close-knit town of St. Johns, Arizona, approximately four thousand strong, is reeling from the murders of these two men.

Police say that the eight year old boy confessed to the murder when he was being questioned. No family or lawyer was present at that time, nor had the young boy been informed of his rights; ironically, once those verbal bullets were fired from the oral gun, charges were put into motion.

Hmmm. A "confession" from an eight year old… Does it make sense? No. Not yet, anyway.

The young boy´s mother, Erin Bloomfield, states she had concerns about what was really going on in the Romero household over the last few months. Her son, she said, had become more withdrawn after confiding in her that his father and stepmother quarreled more often than not, as reported by the New York Times. Her concern prompted her to contact her son´s stepmother, Tiffany Romero, in order to evaluate the situation. After that call, she reported her son was basically told by his stepmother to keep his mouth shut about the goings on in the Romero home.

Is your brain working yet?

An eight year old child may be able to define murder, granted. But premeditated murder requires not just understanding the difference between right and wrong, it requires culpability--that is, that this child is able to understand the act, commit the act and comprehend the consequences of his actions. It is difficult to envision a happy eight year old picking up a gun and not only shooting one man, but actively searching out another--on a different floor of the residence remember--and picking him off, too. Does it make sense that he would have the capability to hold himself together emotionally after shooting one dead to hunt the other down? And that is only one question.

What was going on in that house? What about others, like where was Tiffany Romero in all of this? What kind of things were she and Vincent Romero allegedly frequently quarreling about? How close was she to the man who rented a room from them? What was causing this eight year old confessed shooter to become increasingly distant from his biological mother? Could Tiffany have been having an affair? And what affect did Tiffany have on this young boy? Was she the only daily female presence in his life? Could he have fired the gun at her request?

What does the physical evidence show? Could someone else have been the shooter? Had Erin Bloomfield really left town? Had she quarreled with her former husband? Had Mr. Roman walked in on something or seen who really killed Vincent Romero? Could Erin Bloomfield´s son be covering for her? Or could a third party have committed the crimes, threatening the young boy with bodily harm or harm to a loved one if he did not confess? Stranger things have happened.

Tiffany Romero, and perhaps Erin Bloomfield, may know more than they are telling. A betting person would lay down money that one of them holds information the police would love to know. Perhaps there was a lover´s quarrel; perhaps there were money issues. Perhaps more people in this small town had suspicions of what was really going on. None of these is a stretch in this sad, sad scenario.

There have already been two tragic sudden deaths. Now the state of Arizona is slowly killing an eight year old by charging him as an adult for the murders of Vincent Romero and Timothy Romans. Shackled like an adult to come to court, any spirit left in this frightened eight year old is being eroded by an overzealous justice system that thinks it got its man. So many questions swirl around the periphery of this case and are seemingly ignored now that there is a "confession".

St. Johns and the state of Arizona need to take their time and tread slowly, carefully sifting through the evidence and evaluation of these crimes. A boy´s confession does not mean he committed these crimes: the well-documented phenomenon of false confessions by adults is enough to question the validity of what is happening in this particular instance. And if he is guilty of malfeasance, there is no proof that he understands the ramifications of his actions. Charging him as an adult while he still has many years to develop will be a gross miscarriage of justice.

But if this young boy did not kill his father, Vincent Romero, and Timothy Romans, who did? Who did it or who encouraged him to commit this heinous act? And who harbors such a black heart that he or she would let an eight year old boy take the fall for a horrible crime he did not commit?

The state of Arizona must proceed carefully and conduct a meticulous investigation accompanied by tender compassion. This young boy has already gone through enough hell without being charged for crimes he may not have committed. A prosecutorial appetite to mete out justice should never quell the desire to discover the inescapable truth. (Isn't that right, Mr. McGrath?)

He is, after all, innocent until proven guilty. At least, last I checked.