Son killed by father was rapist, defense says
HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. - A 15-year-old Michigan boy admitted having sex with a 3-year-old girl, so enraging his father that the man pulled a gun, marched the teen to an empty lot, and shot him through the head, the father’s defense attorney said yesterday.
The lawyer for Jamar Pinkney Sr., 37, said he will pursue an insanity defense as a judge in the Detroit enclave of Highland Park ruled that Pinkney should stand trial on first-degree murder, assault, and firearms charges in his son’s Nov. 16 death.
Defense attorney Corbett O’Meara said Pinkney’s son’s confession would have driven anyone crazy.
“There is no rational response to the rape of a child,’’ O’Meara said after the hearing.
“He was immediately remorseful and didn’t seek to hide,’’ O’Meara said. “He turned himself in to the police.’’
Authorities haven’t said whether they believe the teen raped the girl, and police have said the matter is not part of their investigation.
Maria Miller, a Wayne County prosecutor’s office spokeswoman, declined to comment yesterday on the nature of the sexual contact.
Pinkney’s confrontation with his son came a day after the 3-year-old underwent an examination at Children’s Hospital of Michigan. Results of the exam have not been released, but the teen’s mother said they indicated her son “had molested’’ the girl.
The Associated Press is not naming the girl or detailing her relationship to the teen to avoid identifying a victim of sexual assault.
Lazette Cherry testified yesterday that her son told her about his contact with the girl in a conversation that stretched long into the night. She said her son called his father about 3 a.m.
“Daddy, can you please forgive me in your heart, forgive what I did?’’ Cherry quoted Jamar Pinkney Jr. as asking his father.
