A day after a 10-year-old boy was arrested for allegedly shooting and killing an infant girl in the city’s Baden neighborhood, juvenile authorities filed a petition alleging first-degree murder.

The case raises questions about how Missouri’s legal system handles very young children accused of its most serious crimes.

It also comes as Missouri’s juvenile justice system continues to confront longstanding racial disparities affecting Black children. According to the Missouri Department of Public Safety’s 2023 Racial and Ethnic Disparities Action Plan, Black youth are referred to juvenile offices at a rate 2.32 times higher than White youth, are less likely to have their cases diverted from the formal court process and are certified to stand trial as adults at significantly higher rates. Reducing those disparities is one of the system’s stated priorities.

Dr. Kenya Brumfield-Young, a criminal justice associate professor at Saint Louis University, noted how quickly the 10-year-old was charged before a thorough psychological examination was conducted.

“In Missouri, first-degree murder requires that a person knowingly caused the death of another person after deliberation,” Brumfield-Young explained, adding, “with a 10-year-old, the question of intent is much deeper.

“A child may understand that something is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ in a basic way and may even understand that death means someone is not coming back,” she continued. “But that is not the same as understanding the totality of the circumstances, the long-term consequences of the act, or the meaning of being processed through court on a homicide allegation.”

According to court documents, the 10-year-old shot 7-month-old Kiyomi Parker in the head June 26 inside a home in the 8400 block of North Broadway. She later died at a hospital. A 7-year-old also was inside the home.

The infant’s father, Ca’Marion Pawnell, 19, of East St. Louis, is charged with second-degree felony murder, first-degree child endangerment resulting in death and two additional child endangerment counts.

According to the probable cause statement, the handgun had been stored beneath a mattress. The 10-year-old told investigators he knew where it was and had handled it before the shooting. Pawnell admitted the gun belonged to him and that he stored it beneath the mattress.

Under Missouri law, children generally must be at least 12 before a judge can consider transferring them to adult court on serious felony charges. Because the boy in this case is 10, he would likely face the first-degree murder allegation in juvenile court.

That approach reflects Missouri’s juvenile justice philosophy. The St. Louis Family Court says its system emphasizes accountability alongside rehabilitation, family engagement and repairing harm rather than punishment alone. Court officials also acknowledge racial and ethnic disparities as an ongoing challenge and say reducing those disparities remains a priority.

In April, lawmakers passed and Gov. Mike Kehoe signed Senate Bill 888, a wide-ranging criminal justice measure that critics say makes it easier to try some juveniles as adults.

The new law allows prosecutors to seek hearings to transfer older juveniles to adult court, an option critics say gives prosecutors greater influence over those decisions.

House Democrats say that because prosecutors are elected officials, the law could politicize criminal cases and lead to more minors being tried as adults.

“Sometimes prosecutors, they get power hungry,” said Rep. David Tyson-Smith, D-Columbia. “They get in office and they want convictions,” Tyson-Smith said, adding that prosecutors are supposed to “seek justice, not convictions” of minors.

Rep. Michael Johnson, a Kansas City Democrat and chair of the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus, denounced the legislation.

“Public safety and accountability must always be priorities, but we cannot ignore the long-term consequences of policies that criminalize our youth instead of investing in their potential,” Johnson wrote.

In defense of the bill, Rep. Brad Christ, R-St. Louis County, described some juveniles as “very hardened criminals” who have taken advantage of what he called the state’s “catch-and-release process” for minors.

Brumfield-Young unequivocally does not support charging juveniles as adults.

“That does not mean there should be no accountability, and it does not minimize the seriousness of the harm,” she said. “It means that accountability for children and adolescents should happen in a system designed around the cognitive, emotional and social development of young people.

“This is especially important when we are talking about a 10-year-old. A child that young is still very early in the developmental process, including the development of the capacities we expect adults to use when making serious decisions.”

Skyla Pawnell, who identified herself as Ca’Marion Pawnell’s cousin on Facebook, has started a Change.org petition asking “the legal system to exercise compassion and justice” for her cousin. The petition acknowledges that “leaving a loaded firearm accessible was certainly a mistake,” but argues the legal system has placed “the full weight” of the tragedy on Pawnell while overlooking what it describes as the “complex circumstances” surrounding the shooting.

Brumfield-Young argues that “juveniles are not monoliths” and although a 10-year-old child and a 17-year-old adolescent “are developmentally different,” neither should be treated “as though they are adults.”

“For example, California’s youth offender parole framework applies to many people who were under 26 when they committed their offense, and Vermont’s youthful offender law reaches some young people who are under 22,” Brumfield-Young said. “Those laws do not erase accountability. They reflect the reality that there is a developmental difference between a teenager or an emerging adult and a fully mature adult.”

She also believes the criminal justice system isn’t equipped to punish older teens as adults.

This type of prosecution, she believes, exposes young people to systems and consequences that “often make rehabilitation harder” and can lead to educational disruption, reduced access to age-appropriate treatment and lifelong collateral consequences.

“I really believe that we can hold children and adolescents accountable without treating them as adults,” Brumfield-Young said.

“In a case this tragic, we can grieve the death of the infant, support the family, take seriously the child’s behavior and mental health needs, and still recognize that a 10-year-old is not legally, developmentally or neurologically the same as an adult.”

Sylvester Brown Jr. is the Deaconess Foundation Community Advocacy Fellow.

The post Justice and childhood appeared first on St. Louis American.

Based on reporting by St. Louis American.

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As the blockbuster “Michael” crossed the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office and cemented Michael Jackson’s estate as the steward of the first music biopic ever to reach the milestone, another chapter involving one of the singer’s closest relationships has moved into federal court.

A lawsuit filed by four members of the Cascio family has generated headlines around the world. But court records, public financial filings and interviews with people close to the estate and Jackson family reveal a far more complicated story involving bankruptcy proceedings, tax liens, foreclosure litigation, an alleged unpaid $600,000 loan from Jackson himself and a family that for decades stood among the superstar’s most vocal defenders.

The federal complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, accuses Jackson of sexually abusing Edward Cascio, Dominic Savini Cascio, Marie-Nicole Porte and Aldo Cascio while they were children. It names the Michael Jackson Company, co-executors John Branca and the late John McClain, MJJ Productions, MJJ Ventures and others as defendants, asserting claims that include sex trafficking of children, negligence, fraud and breach of fiduciary duty.

For those who knew Jackson, however, the lawsuit represents an extraordinary reversal.

Jackson first met Dominic Cascio Sr. in 1984 while he was serving as banquet and general manager at New York City’s Helmsley Palace Hotel. The chance meeting developed into one of the closest friendships of Jackson’s adult life.

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Over the next quarter-century, Jackson became a frequent guest at the Cascio family’s home in Hawthorne, New Jersey. He celebrated holidays with the family, spent extended periods there away from the pressures of celebrity and developed close relationships with the Cascio children. Just as significant, the family became one of the very few outside Jackson’s immediate relatives whom he trusted around Prince, Paris and Bigi Jackson, the children who today are among the principal beneficiaries of his estate.

That history makes today’s litigation particularly striking.

For years, Frank Cascio emerged as one of Jackson’s strongest public defenders.

In interviews, public appearances and his memoir, Frank Cascio repeatedly rejected allegations that Jackson abused children. He described Jackson as a loving friend and insisted the entertainer never behaved inappropriately toward him or members of his family. During appearances with Oprah Winfrey and Wendy Williams, he defended Jackson’s character and dismissed earlier accusations against the singer. Years later, members of that same family are now asking a federal jury to hold Jackson’s estate liable for allegations they say occurred decades ago.

People close to the estate and Jackson family say the lawsuit cannot be viewed apart from the family’s financial history.

Public court records reviewed by The Informer show that James Victor Porte, the husband of plaintiff Marie-Nicole Porte, sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in South Carolina in November 2025 before the case was converted to Chapter 7. During those proceedings, a bankruptcy judge granted a lender relief from the automatic stay, allowing foreclosure remedies involving real property to proceed.

Public records also show plaintiff Edward J. Cascio previously filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection in New Jersey.

Additional public filings document federal tax liens involving the Portes.

Sources familiar with the estate also pointed to a residence in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, valued at approximately $1 million, while arguing that Jackson himself had already demonstrated extraordinary financial generosity toward the family years earlier.

According to multiple people familiar with Jackson’s finances, the singer loaned Dominic Cascio Sr. approximately $600,000. Those sources contend they have never found evidence the money was repaid.

“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” one family associate said. “They are just trying to get money that they don’t deserve.”

The latest lawsuit also follows an earlier dispute first reported exclusively by the Informer.

Last September, The Informer revealed that the estate had accused former Jackson associates of attempting to obtain $213 million while threatening to publicize allegations they had spent years publicly denying. At the time, Branca described the effort as “a shakedown” and declared, “Enough is enough.”

Branca, who this week celebrated the new film’s milestone with social media postings, has consistently rejected accusations that Jackson abused children, speaking from a position few others occupied.

His relationship with Jackson stretched over decades. Although the two occasionally disagreed professionally, Jackson repeatedly returned to Branca for advice. Eight days before Jackson died in June 2009, the two reunited at rehearsals for “This Is It” at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

“Trust was never easy for Michael,” Branca told the Black Press in a recent interview. “We had a wonderful relationship in the ‘80s and a little more challenging as time went on because there were so many people in his ear… We parted ways on more than one occasion over the decades, but we always reunited when it counted.”

When Jackson finalized his estate plan, he selected Branca and longtime music executive John McClain to serve as co-executors, a decision Branca said demonstrated the trust Jackson ultimately placed in them.

“In the end he chose to keep John McClain and me in the will as executors and that said a lot to us,” Branca said.

People familiar with internal estate discussions say Prince Jackson has also made his position clear regarding future settlements involving allegations against his father.

According to multiple sources, Prince has instructed the executors that there should be “no more payouts.”

“We always fought for Michael,” Branca explained.

Stacy M. Brown

stacybrownmedia@gmail.com

Stacy M. Brown is a senior writer for The Washington Informer and the senior national correspondent for the Black Press of America. Stacy has more than 25 years of journalism experience and has authored… More by Stacy M. Brown

Based on reporting by Washington Informer.

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