Boy, 8, to face murder charges as father is mourned - CNN.com

An 8-year-old boy is scheduled to appear in court Monday in St. Johns, Arizona, on charges he murdered his father and another man.

Vincent Romero and Tim Romans were found dead last week in Romero's home in St. Johns, Arizona.

More than 600 mourners attended services for the father, Vincent Romero, 29, Monday morning, CNN affiliate KPHO-TV reported.

Tim Romans, 39, also was found dead Wednesday afternoon in Romero's home, where he rented a room, KPHO said.

Police said Thursday that the boy had confessed to shooting the two men with a .22-caliber weapon. No motive was given.

"We solved the crime," St. Johns Police Chief Roy Melnick told KPHO. "Now we have to solve the mystery of why."

A judge issued a gag order Monday, preventing police, prosecutors or defense attorneys from talking any further about the case.

A status hearing was scheduled for 3 p.m.

Ron Wood, one of the boy's public defenders, said before the gag order was issued that the defense is treating the boy's case "like any other first-degree murder case."

The boy's other attorney, Ben Brewer, told KPHO he questions whether police acted properly in their interviews with the boy.

"It's evident that he's shaken up, and he's scared," Brewer said. "He was yanked out of the comfortable situation, a situation he knew about, and put into a situation that he has no knowledge about. He's hurting.

"He's a scared little kid," Brewer said.

The boy's lawyers said they plan to file a motion to request experts to help with the investigation and will ask for access to the crime scene.

The funeral for Romans is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday in his hometown of San Carlos, Arizona, KPHO said. A wake will be held at 3 p.m. Friday.

St. Louis Blues contest pays mortgage or rent for their fans

The St. Louis Blues are responding to tight economic times with a fan bailout plan.

The team announced Monday that at every remaining Saturday home game beginning Nov. 29, the organization will call the seat number of a fan and pay that person's mortgage or rent for four months, up to US$4,000 total.

The team also is offering discounted tickets, with 500 plaza-level seats available for $25 a ticket and another 500 in the mezzanine for $11.20 a ticket for each game this season.

The team will also continue its Free Food game, where fans can receive some free food when they attend the March 15 game against Minnesota."

Florida man busted after stealing 15 Holy Communion wafers

NOVEMBER 10--Meet Jonathan Ricci. The Florida man was arrested Saturday morning after he allegedly tried to steal "a handful of communion wafers" from a priest at a Catholic church in Jensen Beach. Ricci, 33, sought to swipe 15 wafers valued at $1, according to a Martin County Sheriff's Office report, a copy of which you'll find here. During mass at around 9 AM, Ricci accepted a wafer on the Communion line, but "walked away without taking the communion into his mouth." After refusing a priest's requests to "accept" the wafer, Ricci "turned to the priest and grabbed a handful of the wafers from the plate and attempted to leave" St. Martin de Porres Church, according to the report. "Due to the religious significance of theholy communion, the parishioners were very upset at his callous treatment of their holy ritual" and sought to detain him. An "enraged" Ricci then began to act "crazy" and scuffled with parishioners, two of whom (men aged 82 and 66) sustained minor injuries. Ricci, pictured in the below mug shot, was charged with theft, battery, and disrupting a religious assembly.