Thread: WHAT A SHAME!!!!!!!

DAYTONA, Florida (AP) -- A 10-year-old boy was convicted Thursday in the beating of a homeless Army veteran that left the man so severely injured he required reconstructive surgery.

Prosecutors say the boy, another 10-year-old and Jeremy Woods, 17, ganged up on John D'Amico, 58, as he and a friend walked through a Daytona Beach neighborhood on March 27. The older man was beaten and stoned with a concrete block.

Circuit Judge John Watson found the boy guilty of aggravated battery and set sentencing for May 24.

The boy, who appeared in court in shackles and an oversized jumpsuit, could be held in the juvenile system until he turns 21 if the judge considers him a habitual offender, or he could be given probation or counseling.

D'Amico, who still has a bandage over his left eye, testified that he never provoked the boys as they claimed.

"The judge saw through the nonsense," D'Amico said outside court. "They need to hold him until he can prove that he'll never do this to somebody else because next time he can kill somebody."

The child's mother left the courtroom visibly upset and refused to comment.

The other 10-year-old pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery and faces up to a year in juvenile detention when he is sentenced May 24. He has been released to an aunt in Michigan.

Woods has pleaded not guilty to aggravated battery charges and faces up to 15 years in state prison if convicted.

D'Amico has undergone numerous operations since the attack, including reconstructive surgery to his face

IS THIS HOW OUR VETS WIND UP??, HOMELESS AND DISGRACED!!THERE IS NO HONOR !!! WE OWE THEM FOR THEIR SERVICE!! OUR GOV MUST PAY THEM BACK!!! GIVING THEM, THEIR DIGNITY!!

I hope this boy will learn his lesson. I can gather from reading about this story that he was a trouble maker long before he did this horrible crime.

I think the problem started in the home. Letting a kid like this get away with bad behavior and it just escalates!

redwhiteandblue, Yes I am afraid it is like this for many veterans. My husband and I met when we both worked for The Salvation Army ARC. This is where many veterans wind up, usually trying to kick addictive habits. Some of these men (and women) have become addicts of one sort or another due to the lack of care for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or what used to be called "battle fatigue".

Men, mainly, have a hard time dealing with the aftermath of having been in a war, having been trained to be tough soldiers, to ask for help, or to admit they are emotionally hurting. So, many slipped into depression, which most times led to substance abuse to numb themselves, self-medication.

It becomes a downward spiral and many become homeless. They do need help, but the government can only do so much for them, they have to ask for the help, and they have to want the help, some do not. That to me is the saddest part.

There are some also, who have become homeless as somehow they fell through the cracks with the VA system, lost disability benefits they lived on.

Our society does need to push for more mental health care for soliders and veterans. War takes a terrible toll on the human mind, and the more quickly veterans get help, the better. The ones from Vietnam and back were left to themselves, and many lost their way.

These kids need to be held 100% accountable for this heinous crime. It is sickening, and it is nearly unimaginable that a child can do such a thing. You have to wonder if these kids even have a conciense?