Claiming she shot her father to death to help him commit suicide, she has been charged with second-degree murder.
The girl was charged as a juvenile, but the prosecutor asked a judge to designate the girl an aggravated juvenile offender, which would limit sentencing options if she is convicted.
Held without bond, she was also charged with first-degree assault. A preliminary hearing was set for May 25. She was arrested on March 13, shortly after deputies responded to what they thought was a prank 911 call giving her address.
Investigators found the girl’s father, Garret Rich, dead in an upstairs bedroom; they said the girl was unemotional when they arrived and told them her father had taken his own life.
She later acknowledged shooting her father, but only after finding him in pain after he had tried to shoot himself to death.
Sheriff’s Lt. West said only that he found it troubling that “by her own admission, she decided to end somebody’s life instead of calling for help.”
A gag order bars prosecutors and others from speaking publicly about the case.
A Boulder County coroner’s report found that Garret Rich, whose legal name was Gary Weisser, suffered a gunshot wound to the head & one to the chest.
[AP, Boulder, CO, http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-04-30-teen_x.htm, 4/30/2005; N Valko RN, 30Apr05]