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Boy, 12, Charged With Murder In Beating Death Of Toddler

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The Associated Press

Published: January 7, 2008

LAUDERHILL - A 12-year-old boy has been arrested and charged with fatally beating a toddler he was babysitting, police said.

Authorities did not identify the boy because of his age but say he used a baseball bat to beat the 17-month-old girl because she was making noise while he was trying to watch television.

Investigators said the boy told them he was home alone with a 10-year-old and the toddler when she began to cry, which angered him. The relationship between the three was not clear.

At some point, an adult called 911. The girl, Shaloh Joseph, was pronounced dead at a hospital from trauma to the head, Lauderhill Police Department spokesman Mike Cochran said.

Cochran said the boy told officers he beat the child to death and was arrested Saturday on first-degree murder charges. He was arraigned in juvenile court Sunday and remained in custody, but it was not clear whether he had a lawyer or anyone else would be charged in the girl's death.

The Miami Herald identified the boy's mother as Guerla Joseph. A telephone listing for a Guerla Joseph in Fort Lauderdale had been disconnected.

The case is not the first in Florida where a boy so young has been charged in the death of a child. Lionel Tate was 12 when he beat and stomped to death a playmate half his age in a case that sparked national and international attention.

At the time, Tate was the youngest person in modern U.S. history to receive a life prison sentence. His attorneys initially said he accidentally killed 6-year-old Tiffany Eunick in 1999 while imitating pro wrestling moves.

Tate was convicted as an adult of first-degree murder, but the conviction was thrown out in 2004, and Tate pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.

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