11/21 Raw video; full interview with the 8-year-old boy's attorney

Prosecutor asks judge to drop 1 murder charge


On Friday The Apache County Attorney filed a motion to dismiss one of two murder charges against an 8-year-old boy who is accused in the shooting deaths of his father and another man.

The motion seeks to dismiss Count One. That is the first-degree murder charge stemming from the death of the boy's father, 29-year-old Vincent Romero.

The child's Defense Attorney Ronald Wood spoke with ABC15's Christina Boomer about the motion on Friday night.



The motion was filed "without prejudice" which means they can refile the charge at a later date.

Wood said he does not know why prosecutors would file the charge but explained in general terms things they could be considering.

"Well they can do it for a lot of reasons," Wood said, "they can do it because they don't think they can get a conviction; they can do it because they don't have enough evidence; they can do it because the timelines are too short and they are not going to get their results back."

Wood said they could also be planning to wait until the boy is older, "And refile the charge. Then we have a kid that can be transferred to an adult court and we have a kid that can be tried as an adult facing a first degree murder charge."

Wood added, "I'm certain that whatever the State has in mind I'm sure they thought it all through and they have a perfect awareness of what they are doing it's just that I don't know what that is yet."

Wood expressed a guarded excitement about the motion saying, "It's always a good thing if you have one less charge pending against your client but he's still charged with one count of first degree murder."

The boy was also charged with first-degree murder in the death of 39-year-old Tim Romans.

Wood said the dismissal could help his client when it comes to public opinion. "Among the questions I guess it raises, well, if he didn't kill his father who did?"

He quickly added, "But the motion doesn't say that, the motion doesn't say that we are dismissing this case because we don't have enough evidence, it doesn't say we are dismissing this case because we don't think we can get a conviction and frankly I don't know what it says so I can't tell you."

The prosecutor's office wouldn't explain its actions.

Police in the small eastern Arizona town of St. Johns allege that the boy killed both men with a .22-caliber rifle in their home on November 5.