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Alabama is apparently jealous of Florida for its knuckle-dragging.
Not to be outdone, an 8-year-old boy has been charged with murder in the beating death of Kelci Lewis, a 1-year-old, while his mother went out clubbing, according to Birmingham AL police.
The girl’s mom, Katerra Lewis, has been charged with manslaughter in the case. That makes sense except the 27-year-old mother is probably going to be found to be not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer.
Who else but an imbecile would leave a 1-year-old in the custody of an 8-year old?
Said police lieutenant Sean Edwards at a Tuesday news conference: “It is believed while the mother and friend were at the club, the 8-year-old viciously attacked the 1-year-old because the 1-year-old would not stop crying. The 1-year-old suffered from severe head trauma as well as major internal organ damage which ultimately lead to her death.”
According to police, Lewis and a friend left their kids alone around 11 pm on October 10 to go to a club. At least five children were left alone, none older than 8. When the women returned around 2 am, they didn’t check on the children.
Lewis found her baby unresponsive in her crib eight hours later and called authorities. The Jefferson County Coroner ruled the death a homicide.
But I ask you: who else but the imbeciles in the Birmingham Police Department would even entertain holding an 8-year-old responsible for murder? Lieutenant Edwards said the Birmingham Police Department had never charged someone so young with murder before. Gee, do you think there’s a good reason for that?
As for the infant’s mother, the cost could go well beyond any possible sentence if convicted of manslaughter. “I think her punishment is going to be something she’ll have to live with the rest of her life, her actions that night, choosing the club over taking care of her 1-year-old,” Edwards said. Ya think?
That little boy is going to have some lifelong issues, too—especially if the courts don’t see some reason and dismiss the charges considering his age.
The 8-year-old is in the custody of the state Department of Human Resources. If this were a real HR department, maybe they’d offer him a job on the police department. We value cops who kill.
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Wandervogel Diary 
I’m having trouble understanding how you can charge an 8yo with murder: “the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another,” especially as described in this case; the operative word being “premeditated.” On the other hand, charging both women with gross stupidity, criminal indifference, child neglect/abuse, and negligent homicide seems appropriate.
I don’t know what makes me most in gripe when I read articles on such facts: the immeasurable stupidity of this young woman or the willingness to charge with murder a kid who, in any other civilized country, would only been subjected to rehabilitation measures.
But one thing worries me even more that what is going to happen to this kid, this is the fate that awaits his siblings. I sincerely hope that they will not be sent back to the custody of the mother, nor handed over to grandparents who have failed to instill the sense of responsibilities and priorities to their daughter.