(2 of 2)
Psychologists have long known that brutal treatment can breed brutal behavior. Child abuse is one of the most common precursors of juvenile delinquency. Severe beatings can cause central nervous system dysfunction that may lead to violent behavior. Attorney Mones says well over 90% of children who commit parricide have suffered physical, sexual and mental abuse. Unlike thousands of other severely abused children, they are finally tipped into violent retaliation by extreme distress or the opening of an opportunity. After testing, most are found to be suicidal; indeed, many attempt suicide within six months of the murder.
The number of youths arrested for all types of murder jumped 9%, to 1,396, between 1985 and 1986. While many of these youths have criminal records and drug habits that may influence their behavior, Mones estimates that less than 10% of parricide defendants have any previous record. "In the parricide cases, the kids are rarely high," he says. And the vast majority of parricides are premeditated. The typical modus operandi: several shots to the back of the head of a sleeping parent.
Their lawyers face a formidable task: justifiable homicide is difficult to prove. Defense attorneys must first convince juries that severe abuse took place, then demonstrate why the defendants felt they had no other options. Pierson, a quiet and somewhat immature teenager, says her 240-lb. father began sexually abusing her when she was about eleven, progressing until he was having sexual intercourse with her as often as three times a day. She claimed that he even molested her in the car on the way to the hospital to visit her mother, who died in 1985. "It was awful," she says. "I felt hopeless."
Despite her anguish, Pierson never once sought help from any adult. Prosecutor Edward Jablonski and others are worried that sentences as lenient as Pierson's might prompt other abused children to seek revenge. More frightening is the possibility that some unbalanced children may use alleged abuse as a pretext for killing their parents. Says Judge Vincent J. Femia of Upper Marlboro, Md., who has handled several parricide cases: "In effect, the defendant can argue that he did something that should have been done for the community."
In the Pierson case, Defense Attorney Paul Gianelli contended that Cheryl was spurred to action because she was afraid her father might also abuse her sister, then nine years old. Pierson feared for her own life as well. "Her father threatened to kill her if she did anything," says the attorney. Although there was never any physical evidence, neighbors and friends testified that they suspected abuse but were afraid to speak out. Says Gianelli: "It all fell on the lap of a 16-year-old." And it was a problem that finally proved too much to bear.