Grandmother hurt by 14-year-old grandson dies from injuries

Back in April and in August, we shared some posts about an assault case involving a young boy and his 67-year-old grandmother. In March, Baltimore police got a call from the 14-year-old saying that he had hurt his grandmother. When police arrived, the grandmother was bloody and on the floor.

The young suspect confessed that he was upset with his grandmother and that he hit her with a hammer while she was sleeping. The grandmother initially survived the assault, but her battle to survive has come to an end. She died last weekend, still in the hospital. But based on a judge’s past decision, the boy won’t face homicide charges.

In August, the judge presiding over the Baltimore case ruled that the young man would be treated as a juvenile in the system. Being saved from being tried as an adult saved the teen from facing potentially serious sentencing, especially now that his grandmother has passed away.

He initially faced charges of attempted first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, second-degree assault and more. But since the judge moved he case in the juvenile justice system, more details of the case have been kept private, as is customary in cases involving juveniles.

Putting kids in the juvenile justice system versus the adult system is an attempt at saving them from getting trapped in a cycle of jails and prisons. We don’t know what’s going on with the young man in this matter, but the hope for any young suspect is that the system would find a way to rehabilitate him and encourage growth into a healthy adulthood.

Source

The Baltimore Sun: “Baltimore woman, 67, attacked by grandson with hammer dies,” Justin Fenton, Dec. 22, 2011