Attorney: Girl, 14, killed dad as he slept to stop abuse
CLEVELAND >> A 14-year-old Ohio girl fatally shot her father in the head as he slept to stop him from abusing her family, her attorney said today.
The girl denied a charge of aggravated murder on Wednesday in Trumbull County Juvenile Court. She has been held in juvenile detention since the early morning shooting on July 28 at her family’s home in Warren, about 55 miles southeast of Cleveland.
“This was a classic situation of a battered woman as it relates to mom,” said Cleveland attorney Ian Friedman. “The girl and her siblings witnessed this every day. It reached a point where it’s self-defense and defense of others.”
Prosecutors haven’t determined if they will ask a judge to order the teen tried as an adult. Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor Stanley Elkins said Friday that his office and police continue to investigate.
Asked about the abuse allegations, Elkins said he’d only heard about them from the media.
“I’m not finding any evidence of that,” Elkins said.
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The girl’s 41-year-old mother told WJW-TV in Cleveland on Thursday that she filed for a protective order against her husband five years ago but later dismissed it. The mother called her daughter a hero for her actions.
The girl shot her 41-year-old father once in the head with his .45-caliber handgun as he slept on a living room couch and her mother sleeping on the floor next to her husband, Friedman said. He described the father as controlling and said he required his wife to constantly remain near him.
The shooting was a reaction to abuse that had occurred the previous day and evening, Friedman said. “In her mind, this was the only opportunity she had to defend her family and her mother.”
The Associated Press generally does not name juveniles accused of crimes.
Two of the teen’s siblings, a 20-year-old brother and a 19-year-old sister, were in the home when the shooting occurred, Friedman said.
A pretrial hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 30. Friedman said he would be cooperating with prosecutors in their investigation.
24 responses to “Attorney: Girl, 14, killed dad as he slept to stop abuse”
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Loves stories like this. No trial. No expensive jail. The mother and siblings will back her up. Just a token sentence of a few months in jail and covered mental health treatment for PTSD. That protective order will certainly help in her defense. What would Deuterte do in a case like this?
Current available evidence shows that the only “victim” here so far is the dead guy.
Most reasonable comment so far…
Trump would have said she should have got a new family.
Clinton would have said “Stand by your man,” even after slick willie left his DNA on a blue dress, then went on TV pointing his finger at the viewers that he did not have sex with that woman….
A testament to the sad state of our society! To think in this day and age things like this is happening. Have we not evolved? Darwin where are you?
obviously working here DARWIN that is!
Sad part is that the Court will probably have to punish her somehow when she was a victim. On the bright side one less abuser in the world
Did this person deserve to die? Too many guns around for people (and minors) to take the law into their own hands.
This is why there should be guns around. Sometimes no one is going to protect you and your family but yourself. Now it’s up to the courts to decide whether the girl was justified.
Perhaps the best argument for gun ownership I’ve heard.
The best argument for gun ownership you’ve heard is that someone should die before the courts decide whether or not his killing was justified?
“The girl shot her 41-year-old father … as he slept on a living room couch and her mother sleeping on the floor next to her husband…”
I don’t know why they were sleeping in the living room, but why didn’t he let the mother sleep on the couch?
Oh yeah, because he was abusive.
Mother, 20-year old brother, and 19-year old sister and it took the youngest in the family to stop the abuse.
Yes, it seems that the others should have done something first. Kind of strange though because the 14 year old will be treated as a juvenile. The others would be tried as adults and the sentencing could be much harsher.
She was the least brainwashed of them all.
Sad story but mom had to be hero, not the 14 year old to get out. My wife’s first husband was an abuser and stalker. She had to fight for her life and save her daughter after breaking and even fled state
Thank God she’s safe and sound …
Reminds me of that Aerosmith song, “Janie’s Got a Gun”
What did her daddy do?
It’s Janie’s last IOU
She had to take him down easy and put a bullet in his brain
She said cause nobody believes me
The man was such a sleaze he aint never gonna be the same.
She did what she had to do.
Some of the horrors done behind the doors of a family home aren’t known or seen by others. It’s secrets, when revealed through actions claiming a life or lives, shocked the outside world. It’s sad when this happen, we can only hope for the best.
It is a short, summary article. I would like to hear the backstory and if there is a long standing string of evidence of spouse abuse. Over a million battered women, and hundreds of thousands of cases of domestic violence go unreported. Once you know an abused spouse you never look at the issue in the same way ever again.
Or if you have ever been abused you can identify with this story. My wife’s exhusband was an abuser got away with because he was a cop, told my wife and all the kids he could do anything because we was and still is Hawaii’s finest.
There’s an article in Daily Mail that gives more information and pictures. The man’s brother, et al, claims he was not abusive.