The story appears on

Page A5

April 24, 2011

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » World

Teen guilty of raping, killing boy, 4

A CALIFORNIA teenager accused of molesting and drowning a four-year-old neighbor and hiding his body in a clothes dryer was convicted of first-degree murder on Friday.

A judge also found 15-year-old Raul Castro guilty of lewd and lascivious conduct and sodomy. The judge found Castro not guilty of kidnapping. Castro was tried as an adult in the October 2009 killing of Alex Mercado. Castro was 14 when he drowned the preschooler in a bathtub after the child said he would tell his mother about the sexual assault.

The Mendota teen confessed in taped interviews with detectives to sexually assaulting and killing the boy.

Castro's defense attorney, Barbara Hope O'Neill, argued the teen was mentally ill and did not intend to kill Alex. O'Neill based her argument on the testimony of a psychiatrist who said Castro's mental illness led him to disassociate with reality.

Sentencing is scheduled for June 24.



 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend