13-year-old will not face charges for stabbing stepfather
Published: Thursday, September 2, 2010 at 5:09 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, September 2, 2010 at 5:09 p.m.
A 13-year-old Mendocino County boy who was arrested after repeatedly stabbing his stepfather two weeks ago will not face criminal charges from the incident because of evidence he was trying to defend his mother from an attack by her husband, District Attorney Meredith Lintott said.
The case has been referred to Mendocino County Child Protective Services to determine what should become of the teen, who has been released from juvenile hall and is living in a county-run children's center.
“What we were concerned with was that the 13-year-old not return to the family home,” Lintott said. “So we were in contact with CPS, and it is my understanding that they will be moving forward in the child dependency arena.”
The Round Valley eighth-grader was living in Covelo with his mother, his step-father, a younger brother and sister when he intervened in an altercation between his mother and her husband on the evening of Aug. 19, the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office said.
The Press Democrat is not naming members of the family because it is a domestic violence case.
Round Valley Tribal Police who responded to the family's house said the boy described seeing his stepfather astride his mother, banging her head against the floor. He said he thought she would die or might already be dead, tribal police said.
The boy said he tried to stop the violence with a fold-out pocket knife, stabbing his stepfather about seven times in the head, neck and torso, authorities said.
He inadvertently stabbed his mother in the knee, as well, authorities said.
He then ran to a neighbor's house with his siblings and told them what he had just done, sheriff's officials said.
Lintott and sheriff's officials said investigators obtained evidence supporting the boy's story, as well as reports from at least one neighbor suggesting a history of domestic violence.
The sheriff's office has no open investigation into reports of spousal abuse, however, Sheriff's Capt. Kurt Smallcomb said.
An earlier report that the step-father was in prison last year was incorrect. He was on five years formal probation until May 2010, stemming from a 2005 child endangerment case in which he was caught drunken driving with a child in his car, according to court records.
Although initially sentenced to six months in county jail, he was sent to prison in December 2006 for violating probation and was given a two-year sentence, court records say.
Authorities said he lost a significant amount of blood after the stabbing. He was airlifted to Ukiah Valley Medical Center for treatment and was released four days later, said Cyndi Pickett, a close family friend who arrived at the family's house soon after the violence ended.
Lintott said the man's injuries illustrated the serious nature of the boy's actions.
“Certainly the level of violence was very high, and the potential damage was very high,” Lintott said.
But while “it was certainly an aggravated case...it was aggravated circumstances,” she said.
“It was a very difficult case for me to review and make a decision on,” she said.
The boy was released from juvenile hall Aug. 24, Lintott said.
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