The attorney for the 12-year-old Georgia boy accused of strangling 8-year-old Amy Yates says the boy “steadfastly maintains he did not see this girl that day,” reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The girl’s father plans to ask legislators to pass “Amy’s Law,” to allow a child 12 or younger convicted of murder to be sentenced to life in prison, rather than the maximum two years now authorized.
In the ongoing criminal case, defense lawyer Gerry Word said sheriff’s investigators interrogated the boy for four hours without his parents in the room, intimidating him and obtaining statements under duress. “You give me four hours in a room with a 12-year-old, and I can get him to say whatever I want,” said Word.
Amy disappeared from a trailer park Monday. Her body was found later that night near an empty lake bed. Police say the girl was strangled by the boy, who lives nearby.
Link: http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/0404/30carroll.html