Reuters: U.S.: California 12-year-old accused of killing sister denies charge in court

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California 12-year-old accused of killing sister denies charge in court May 30th 2013, 01:12 By Ronnie Cohen SAN ANDREAS, California | Wed May 29, 2013 9:12pm EDT SAN ANDREAS, California (Reuters) - A 12-year-old boy accused of fatally stabbing his younger sister in a crime that traumatized their Northern California town denied a second-degree murder charge through his attorney in a juvenile court hearing on Wednesday. The boy, who is identified in court as Isaiah F., appeared in shackles and spoke only once during the proceeding in Calaveras County juvenile court when he agreed to continue to waive his right to a speedy trial. One of Isaiah's lawyers, Mark Reichel, said the boy denied the charge. The case has drawn widespread attention because of the age of the boy and the rare crime of killing a sister. If convicted, he could be incarcerated until his 23rd birthday. Judge John E. Martin set a July 31 hearing to schedule a date for a juvenile bench trial in the case. The boy's mother, father and his father's fiancée attended Wednesday's hearing. Following the April 27 killing of 8-year-old Leila Fowler, police initially started a manhunt for an intruder who the brother said he saw before finding his sister near death. The two were home alone. News of what was thought to be a homicidal home invasion sent a shudder of fear through Valley Springs, southeast of Sacramento, where many residents routinely left their doors unlocked. Residents were advised to remain inside the next day with doors and windows latched shut. But two weeks later, authorities arrested the brother and he was charged with second-degree murder on May 15. Reichel said his client maintained his innocence. He confirmed the seventh-grader was suspended for five days in January for bringing a "tiny little Swiss Army knife" to school. But the brother was otherwise "a very normal boy in a very normal setting with normal siblings," Reichel said. "He got along with other kids in the neighborhood very well." Court records show the siblings lived in a crowded household where money was tight and the family was embroiled in custody and child-support disputes including one involving Leila Fowler and the brother accused of her killing. The two siblings lived with their father and his longtime fiancée in a household that included five other children ranging in age from 1 to 19, court documents and police reports show. The records show that the father, Barney Fowler, a boat mechanic, was involved in child-support disputes with three different women, including the mother of Leila and Isaiah. Family court records show the children's mother, Priscilla Rodriguez, was largely cut off from Leila and her brother. After the court hearing on Wednesday, she declined to comment. Whether Rodriguez chose to keep her distance, as Fowler said in court papers seeking child-support payments, or was essentially denied access to her children by their father, as she suggests, remains unclear. She claimed in a court declaration last year to be indigent and homeless. Fowler had written the court that he also had financial problems and that Rodriguez had "made no attempt to spend time or visit the children." (Reporting by Laila Kearney and Ronnie Cohen; Writing by Steve Gorman and Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Eric Beech and Bill Trott) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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