Teen guilty of raping, killing boy, 4
Source: Agencies |
April 24, 2011, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
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.
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.
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