The 6-year-old boy accused of beating a baby so badly that the infant suffered permanent brain damage will be moved soon from a juvenile detention center to a group home, his attorney said Friday.
The boy, holding a stuffed Dalmatian puppy, fidgeted through a juvenile court hearing a day after prosecutors agreed to reduce charges against him from attempted murder to assault.He was accused of using his hands, feet and a stick to beat Ignacio Bermudez Jr., who was just a month old at the time. The April 22 attack came after the boy and 8-year-old twin brothers allegedly broke into a neighbor's apartment to steal a Big Wheel tricycle.
The boy answered "yes" when court referee Stephen Easton asked him if he understood the reduced charge.
But no plea was entered because the defense maintains he is not competent to help with his defense, said the boy's lawyer, John Burris.
"He has fanciful notions about death. He doesn't understand that if people die, they really die, and they don't come back," Burris said.