The teenager accused of killing an 8-year-old Virginia boy who was trying to protect his older sister from being raped was charged with second-degree murder and malicious wounding and strangulation on Monday.
Mairese Washington, 16, will be tried as an adult in the case and has a prior violent criminal record, WTVR reported. The Richmond teen was arrested two days after the killing, but not immediately identified because he is a minor.
The development comes 40 days after 8-year-old Marty Cobb was beaten to death near his South Richmond home. If you recall, Marty was killed after trying to protect his 11-year-old sister from being raped by Washington while the two played outside.
According to WTVR:
The judge said Monday that there was a lack of evidence of pre-meditation to sustain first-degree murder charges.
Originally police were told the person who assaulted Marty and his 12-year-old sister was an “adult white male with scraggly facial hair.”
But during the course of the police investigation, that description changed to a teenage black male.
Police said the surviving victim, Cobb’s sister, was “threatened and intimidated by the suspect” into initially giving inaccurate information.
This isn’t the first time Washington has run into trouble.
A Richmond mother showed CBS 6 court documents that show Washington was charged with malicious wounding after he attacked her son with a hammer, back in 2010.
“He’s sick,” said Richmond mother of two children, Heather Arrington.
Arrington told CBS 6 that the teen lived nearby and lured her son, then three-years-old into another home and viciously beat him.
She said her son, Malachi Sottile, age seven, physically recovered from the attack, but said he’s had frequent nightmares ever since then.
There is a gag order on this current case.
SOURCE: WTVR | PHOTO CREDIT: Handout
