The 13-year-old boy who killed his neo-Nazi father when he was just 10 will serve seven years in a juvenile facility, a California court ruled on Thursday.
Judge Jean R. Leonard said that the boy should do time until the age of 23 at most. In seven years, he'll be eligible for parole, the Associated Press reported.
Attorneys on both sides of the case have been deliberating for months on how to not only punish the 13-year-old, but also help him rehabilitate after his troubling and abusive childhood. Judge Leonard ruled that the best option would be to send the teen to the California Division of Juvenile Justice.
"This is an individual with exceptional needs," she announced in court.
The child currently resides in Riverside County's juvenile hall, where he's spent the last two-and-a-half years attending classes, receiving therapy treatment and psychotropic medications. He will continue on the pill regimen for the next 60 days, then he'll be reevaluated.
The teen would have been sentenced to 40 years to life if he were of adult age, but the prosecutor told the press outside of the courtroom that the boy won't serve that extended amount of time because he is a juvenile, AP reported.
The teen reportedly shot his father behind the ear at point-blank range, using a .357-Magnum he took from his parent's bedroom. During questioning, the boy told law enforcement officials he was scared he'd be forced to choose between living with his father and stepmother, who were in the midst of a divorce. His father was a prominent leader of the National Socialist Movement.
In court, the boy appeared stoic as the judge read him the ruling. Despite his expressionless demeanor, his lawyer, Punam Grewald, told AP that the boy called him two days prior and "he asked me 'are things going to get better?'"
Grewald told AP that she wasn't shocked the boy was found guilty of second-degree murder. She said there is no middle school in the juvenile facility where he can take classes. He will also reportedly be the youngest inmate in the system.
"This is a complete miscarriage of justice," Grewald said, and insisted her legal team would pursue an appeal.
Riverside County Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Soccio previously suggested that the teen should stay within the state's juvenile justice system and live in a high-security facility where he could go to school, since he seems to do "better in a quasi-military penal environment."
"He seems to like it, he knows what the rules are and what is expected and he is treated with dignity," Soccio, who has reportedly worked closely with the teen, said.
But defense attorneys have insisted the teenager is too emotionally debilitated to handle a state-run facility. They informed the court that the boy should, instead, live in a residential treatment center where he could undergo more strenuous therapy, rather than a security-heavy environment.
