Random Kids Whose Crimes Were So Brutal (16 items)

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  (#7) A Preteen Fatally Beat His 2-Year-Old Brother

  Cristian Fernandez was only 12 when he threw his brother into a bookshelf approximately a dozen times near St. Augustine, Florida, causing lethal injuries. Prosecutors initially claimed the act was premeditated, and they intended to charge him accordingly, as an adult. Allegedly, Fernandez habitually hit his brother.

  Two years after his arrest, Fernandez pled guilty to second-degree manslaughter, and the county convicted him as a juvenile. But before his plea agreement, he was the youngest person in Florida history to be charged as an adult. Even though he escaped a life sentence, the ruling required him to serve nine years in juvenile detention with supervised parole. Duval County released Fernandez in January 2018.
   
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  (#16) 13-Year-Old Jaheim Holley Shot And Robbed His Friend For Cash

  Seminole County initially charged 13-year-old Jaheim Holley with attempted murder and armed robbery after he shot 19-year-old acquaintance Justin McKnight. On March 28, 2016, according to the Orlando Sentinel, Holley pleaded with McKnight to give him a ride. While they were driving, Holley pulled out a gun. After a brief physical altercation, Holley shot McKnight in the stomach and made off with McKnight’s cash. Earlier that day, McKnight posted a picture of himself holding money, which is how investigators believed Holley knew he had it on him.

  Authorities revealed Holley already had an arrest record, and the teen had been on probation at the time of the shooting. Holley, tried as an adult, accepted a 5-year plea bargain. 
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  (#6) Ari Morales And Marcelles Peter Beat And Sexually Assaulted A 15-Year-Old Girl At Homecoming

  In October 2009, a group of males ages 15 to late 40s were drinking outside of the Richmond High School homecoming dance. They invited a 15-year-old female student to join. She allegedly drank a little before they propositioned her for sex. When she denied, they forced her down on a concrete bench where she was continuously beaten and sexually assaulted for over two hours. They penetrated her with foreign objects, burned her with cigarettes, and poured enough alcohol down her throat to give her a near fatal blood-alcohol level. At one point, one of the attackers even used the girl's cellphone to call her father and say she was great at sex. 

  As many as 20 bystanders looked on during the attack. Police believed they were aware of what was happening, although none called for help. A local resident heard about the attack and called the police, who found the girl unconscious under a picnic table. Emergency responders air-lifted her to the hospital in critical condition.

  16-year-old Ari Morales and 17-year-old James Peter were among six boys and men charged. The judge decided to try the juveniles as adults because he deemed their actions "extremely callous and brutal." California sentenced Morales to 33 years in prison and Peter 29 years to life.
   
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  (#2) Denver Jarvis, Michael Bent, And Jesus Mendez Set Friend On Fire Over $40

  In 2009, authorities arrested five Florida teenagers for setting 15-year-old Michael Brewer on fire over a $40 video game-related debt. When Brewer couldn't pay up, Michael Bent took Brewer's father's bicycle and orchestrated an attack. The group held down Brewer while Denver Jarvis poured rubbing alcohol on him. Jesus Mendez pulled out a lighter and ignited the teen. The fire was so severe Brewer's clothes burned off his body as he desperately tried to stop, drop, and roll in the front yard. He eventually jumped into a pool to extinguish the flames but over 65 percent of his body was burned.

  Three of the five teens involved - Denver Jarvis and Michael Bent, both 15, and Jesus Mendez, 16 - were charged with attempted second-degree murder and tried as adults. Courts sentenced both Bent and Mendez to 11 years in prison for battery. Mendez also got 19 years of probation. Jarvis received a sentence of eight years in prison with 10 years of supervised community probation.
   
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  (#13) Eric Smith Strangled And Beat A Four-Year-Old

  On August 2, 1993, 13-year-old Eric Smith led four-year-old Derrick Robbie into Steuben County woods as Robbie walked to a nearby summer camp. Smith strangled and sodomized the child with a tree limb before fatally dropping two large rocks on his head. Smith also arranged the body peculiarly, removing a shoe and pouring Kool-Aid from Robbie's lunch all over him.

  The state of New York tried Smith as an adult. Smith’s defense attorney presented  Smith’s diagnosis of intermittent explosive disorder (IED), which according to Psychology Today causes "individuals to act out violently and unpredictably." Despite this, the courts sentenced Eric nine years to life in prison. As of 2020, he's been denied parole ten times.
   
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  (#8) 6-Year-Old Carl Mahan Shot An 8-Year-Old Girl In An Argument

  In 1929 - a few months before the stock market crash that started the Great Depression - 6-year-old Carl Mahan had a fight with 8-year-old Cecil Van Hoose over a piece of scrap metal that he wanted to sell to a junk dealer. She hit Mahan in the face with the scrap metal, and he fatally shot her in retaliation.

  Johnson County charged the boy with manslaughter. Although juvenile cases are not typically tried with a jury, it took only 30 minutes of deliberation to find Mahan guilty. The courts sentenced him to 15 years, which he spent in the Greendale Reformatory until released at age 21. 

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