MICHIGAN (AP) — A 15-year-old Michigan boy admitted raping a 3-year-old girl, so enraging his father that the man couldn’t control himself when witnesses say he forced the teen to strip, marched him to an empty lot and shot him through the head, a defense lawyer said Tuesday.
The lawyer for Jamar Pinkney Sr., 37, said he will pursue an insanity defense as a judge in the Detroit enclave of Highland Park ruled Pinkney should stand trial on first-degree murder, assault and firearms charges in his son’s Nov. 16 death.
Defense attorney Corbett O’Meara said Pinkney’s son’s confession would have driven anyone crazy.
“There is no rational response to the rape of a child,” O’Meara said after the hearing. “He was immediately remorseful and didn’t seek to hide. He turned himself in to the police.”
Pinkney acted “under heat of passion,” O’Meara said, and should be found “not guilty by reason of insanity” or found guilty of manslaughter.
During questioning of witnesses, Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Christine Kowal tried to establish that Pinkney had time to think about what he was going to do as he forced his son out of the boy’s mother’s home on North Street before killing him.
No evidence of sexual penetration was introduced at the hearing, despite testimony about the girl being taken to Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit a day before the shooting.
O’Meara said the defense would introduce medical reports that indicate the girl had evidence of vaginal tearing. He said Jamar Jr. had at first denied he molested the girl, then later said he only lay on top of her but they had their clothes on.
O’Meara said after the hearing that the teen finally admitted to his father that he had sex with the girl, causing his father to snap.
He said his client is now devastated and under the care of a psychiatrist at the Wayne County Jail, where he is being held without bond.
“He doesn’t understand how any of this could have happened,” O’Meara said.
Authorities haven’t said if they believe the teen raped the girl, his half-sister, and police have said the matter is not part of their investigation. Wayne County prosecutor’s office spokeswoman Maria Miller declined to comment Tuesday on the nature of the sexual contact.
Pinkney’s confrontation with his son came a day after the 3-year-old underwent an examination at Children’s Hospital of Michigan. Results of the exam haven’t been released, but the teen’s mother said they indicated her son “had molested” the girl. The Associated Press is not naming the girl or detailing her relationship to the teen to avoid identifying a victim of sexual assault.
Lazette Cherry testified Tuesday that her son talked to her about his contact with the girl after her exam. Cherry said her son called his father about 3 a.m.
“Daddy, can you please forgive me in your heart, forgive what I did?” she quoted Jamar Pinkney Jr. as asking his father.
The mother said the elder Pinkney agreed to come to the house later to talk further. Cherry’s sister, Yolanda Cherry, testified that Jamar Pinkney Sr. arrived about 10 a.m.
Yolanda Cherry said she and her sister talked about getting help for the teen, while Pinkney Sr. said he spoke with the 3-year-old’s mother and she wanted to press charges.
“Jamar, is there something you want to tell me?” Yolanda Cherry quoted Pinkney Sr. as asking his son.
“He got on his knees in front of his dad and said, ‘I’m sorry,'” the aunt said.
“What did you do?” she quoted the father as asking.
“I humped (the girl),” the teen replied. “I need counseling.”
Pinkney Sr. didn’t immediately respond, Yolanda Cherry said, and she left to visit her mother’s upstairs apartment. She later heard screaming and banging and rushed down to find Pinkney Sr. holding a handgun and beating his son.
Both sisters testified Pinkney Sr. ordered his son to undress and marched him outside. The teen’s mother said Pinkney Sr. ordered the boy to kneel in the grass, ignoring his pleas for mercy.
“I said, ‘Jamar, stop. Don’t do this. Think about what you’re doing,'” Lazette Cherry testified.
She said Pinkney Sr. stood behind the boy and shot him in the head, then walked around still grasping the gun.
“He didn’t want anybody to go back and help him,” the mother said. After Pinkney Sr. left, she rushed to her son’s side.
“He’s bleeding, blood coming out of his mouth,” she said. “Somebody said, ‘Get some covers, cover him up, keep him warm.’ So that’s what we did.”
Jamar Pinkney Sr. is being held in the Wayne County Jail without bond, charged with first-degree murder in the Nov. 16 shooting. If convicted, he faces life in prison without parole.