Four year old girl suspect in killing

Father speculates jealousy led to assault on child's brother

By Jerry Mitchell and Thyrie Bland

Jackson police believe one of the city's latest homicides was committed by a 4-year-old, perhaps Mississippi's youngest killer ever.

"I can't think of any case where a suspect was 4," said Jackson police spokesman Robert Graham. "We're consulting with the district attorney's office and trying to decide what steps to take next."

The state Department of Human Services has intervened in the case in which authorities say the 4-year-old girl beat her 2-month-old brother, Alfred Griffin Jr., to death.

Hinds County Coroner Sharon Grisham-Stewart said an autopsy showed Alfred died of multiple skull fractures, and he had abrasions, bites and scratches on his face.

She found injuries consistent with the baby's head being hit with a brick.

The child's 22-year-old father, Alfred Griffin Sr., said he found the baby unconscious sometime before 1 a.m. Monday.

"I saw the bite marks on his jaw," Griffin said. "I put him up to me and he wasn't breathing. I just panicked and started hollering."

Griffin said that on Tuesday the state Department of Human Services came to the house he shares with his fiancee, Felicia Jackson, and took custody of the 4-year-old and three other children, ages 6, 7 and 9.

"I was crying. They were crying," Griffin said.

Hinds County District Attorney Faye Peterson said the killing was "extremely violent and suspicious behavior for a child."

"My first question in this case is, 'So what's been going on in the household?' " she said.

DHS officials are investigating if there was any neglect in the household or if there was a failure to monitor children, she said.

Griffin said the children were sleeping in the living room of their house at 6583 George Washington Drive when he went to bed Sunday night. His fiancee was not at home.

Griffin said he got up later to change the baby's diaper and found that his son was not breathing.

His 9-year-old step-son told him he had tried to wake Griffin up because the 4-year-old had been bothering the baby, he said.

Griffin said he woke the children's grandmother, who also lives in the home, and they called 911.

What could possibly prompt a child so young to commit such a violent act is left to speculation.

Griffin said his 4-year-old daughter may have been jealous of the baby.

Griffin said his daughter sometimes gave him menacing looks when he played with the infant. "All new and young parents should watch for these things," he said.

He also said he remembers her reaction when he brought home a stroller and play pen for the baby.

"She said, 'You didn't buy these things for me,' " Griffin said. "What she was telling me, that hurt. I wasn't able to do that with her."

Peterson questioned where a 4-year-old could learn such violent behavior. "It may have been something the 4-year-old saw on TV," she said.

"I don't believe a child naturally grows that way, actually kills so young. I'm just shocked by it."

Chester Quarles, professor of criminal justice at the University of Mississippi, also wonders about influences.

"In all probability, the 4-year-old had been exposed to violence and was acting out what (she) had observed during (her) short lifetime," he said.

Peterson said it's too early to tell whether criminal charges, such as neglect, will ever be filed against any adults. "We may or may not be able to charge anyone," she said.

Under the law, prosecutors are barred from prosecuting any child under 10 because children are unable to appreciate the fact they've committed a crime.

"Generally, (competency) is an issue for children," Peterson said. "They're still living in the world of fantasy."

Experts say there have been killings committed by children as young as 4, but such cases are extremely rare.

In Flint, Mich., in 2000, a 6-year-old fatally shot a female classmate a day after the two had fought on the playground. The child was believed to be the youngest murder suspect in Michigan history.

The 6-year-old was never charged, but the adult from whom he had gotten the gun was later convicted of criminal negligence.

Later that year, an 11-year-old boy in Pontiac, Mich., was charged with killing an 18-year-old, making him one of the youngest people in U.S. history charged as an adult with first-degree murder.

While it seems there are more news stories lately on children killing children, Jack Levin, director of Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Violence, said statistics show no increase in killings by children under 14.

"The entire increase that we saw in the murder rate attributable to juveniles has been an increase in teenage murderers," he said. "Below 14, there's been no increase at all."

But there's no question a 4-year-old who expresses his anger in such deadly fashion needs profound therapy, he said.

"Where does that come from?" he asked. "It could be faulty wiring, or it could be a terrible experience in early childhood."

The question about such treatment is how effective it would prove, he said. "This extreme loss of temper is so rare we don't really have a track record to deal with it effectively."

-- Anonymous, November 13, 2002

Answers

GEEZ!

Beware a woman scorned.

-- Anonymous, November 13, 2002

Lots of questions. Where was the fiancee and, supposedly, mother of the child so late at night? The guy got up to change the baby's diaper at 1 in the morning? The baby didn't cry/scream loudly enough to wake up the guy or the older siblings? He knew the girl was abnormally jealous but left the baby in the same room anyway?

-- Anonymous, November 13, 2002

Lots of questions. Where was the fiancee and, supposedly, mother of the child so late at night? The guy got up to change the baby's diaper at 1 in the morning? The baby didn't cry/scream loudly enough to wake up the guy or the older siblings? He knew the girl was abnormally jealous but left the baby in the same room anyway?

Yup. I had some questions, too.

I thought the fianceé might've been at work, and that's the reason she wasn't home. Dunno.

Also wondered why the older child couldn't rouse him -- had he been imbibing or partaking in something that caused him to be unresponsible? Dunno.

Did they "ass-U-me" it was the 4 year-old, based on the size of the bite marks?

I think there are a lot of questions that need to be asked, and the whole situation looked at a little deeper. Hope someone will do that.

I'm not discounting that the 4 year-old could have done such a thing - - as incomprehensible as it sounds -- but that sure wouldn't have been my first "suspect".

:-/

-- Anonymous, November 13, 2002

I thought I'd check the TV stations to see what other info is available. All I can say is if the legal authorities are of the same caliber as their TV news writers, then we'll never know the truth. As we used to say in Louisiana, "Thank God for Mississippi."

D.A. Says Charges In Baby Death, Unlikely

By Rodney Dunigan

Jackson, Miss. (WJTV)

The investigation continues into the murder of a 2 month old baby boy Monday with all indications pointing to his 4-year-old sister, and the Department of Human Services has removed her and her 3-siblings from there home.

The shocking news of a 2 month old baby possibly being murdered at the hands of his four year old sister leaves plenty of questions to be answered. The first, how could a child so young act out in this this way.

Paul Davey, a child counselor with the Adolescent Child and Family Clinic in Jackson says a number of events can push a very young child to become violent, including abuse in the home by parents or siblings. He also says children can mimic violent behavior from movies and even video games.

In the case of the four year old Jackson girl, Hinds County District Attorney Faye Peterson says because of the child's age regardless of the situation, there's not much that can legally be done.

"As to whetir or not there could be criminal charges that could be filed, that would be something never before done, possibly in this state to determine whither or not there was some kind of undo care allowing this child to come to this type of harm that the parents could have prevented," said Peterson.

Peterson says in the worst case senerio if it's determined by DHS that the parents neglect of these children led to this incident the remaining children can be permanently removed from the home.

-- Anonymous, November 14, 2002

seems to me that the parents are responsible as legal guardians of the child.

-- Anonymous, November 14, 2002

I nominate Rusty Yates.

-- Anonymous, November 15, 2002

Some relatives adopted a child at the age of one year. The kid looked like her nose had been broken, and there were nutritional issues.

At the age of four, this child was fully capable and willing to kill an infant. She particularly wanted to twist an infant's head too far backward. She used both hands and tried to twist an infant's head from side to side. Toys were always used to stab or clobber any other child within reach, but she particularly wanted to stab infants in the eyes. She tried whatever in front of adults, and no one dared to leave her in a room alone with another child of any age. She tortured animals.

Medication helped quite a bit, but that took many years to get started. Later a diagnosis was made of probable shaken-baby syndrome. Brain damage. The poor kid really didn't feel pain the same way other people do, didn't understand pain, didn't understand that other people can be broken or killed. Medication was the only thing that calmed her down enough to behave more or less normally, although she remained fascinated with infants and would try to take them whenever possible.

That said, adults were fully responsible for keeping the kid away from infants, keeping weapons away from her, etc.

-- Anonymous, November 15, 2002