Milwaukee boy, 10, charged as an adult appears in court; discrepancies raised in witness statements

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WAUWATOSA, Wis. (CBS 58) --The 10-year-old boy who is being charged as an adult after allegedly killing his own mother appeared in court Thursday morning for a motion hearing.

Last December, the judge motioned to wait to possibly dismiss one of the two counts (one count of first-degree reckless homicide and first-degree intentional homicide) that the boy was being charged with, until written requests were filed. On Thursday, the judge agreed on charging the minor with one count of first-degree intentional homicide, which could mean life in prison for the boy.

The 10-year-old boy was automatically charged as an adult for allegedly shooting his mother to death last November.

Since he is still a minor, members of the media were asked not to reveal his identity.

The criminal complaint states that the boy's mom woke him up earlier than she normally does and refused to buy him an item online.

That's when, according to the criminal complaint, the child accessed the gun from the mother's bedroom, went down to the basement where she was doing laundry, twirled the gun around on his finger and then it accidentally went off.

In a separate interview with police, the complaint states "(he) admitted that he retrieved the gun because he was mad...he admitted getting his mother's set of keys the night before. He went to the basement and took up a shooting stance. He admitted to knowing that guns can kill people...he pointed the gun with two hands."

On Thursday, the boy's attorney, Angela Cunningham, said she was concerned with possible inaccuracies described in the complaint. She told the judge a family member reached out to her office claiming that what was said to police is not what is written in the report.

"I have concern that the other information from other family members, that the state is relying on in order to meet probable cause, may be inaccurate as well," she said.

Cunningham asked the judge to request police to turn over any and all reports and body camera footage from when family members were questioned.

“I’m concerned that if the police reports are inaccurate the court needs to take into consideration whether or not there’s probable cause to meet one of the four statutory requirements for this case to stay in adult court," Attorney Cunningham added.

Though Judge Jane Carroll agreed that at some point it will all be used as evidence, she denied the request ahead of a preliminary hearing, stating it is quite common when multiple witnesses are involved.

"There’s no doubt that this is information that will need to be turned over at some point, but not prior to the preliminary hearing," she said.

The minor's cash bail remains at $50,000 with conditions of bail, stating that he must not leave Milwaukee County and must be monitored with an anklet that utilizes GPS technology.

In the meantime, the boy is being held in a juvenile facility and they expect him to return for a preliminary hearing late January or early February.

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