Diane Carman -- Damm Case

The story of Linda Damm's murder last month in Lafayette is enough to make an ambitious prosecutor's nostrils flare in eager anticipation. This is lurid, made-for-TV movie material.

This is a slam-dunk conviction.

From the alleged stabbing to the reports of failed attempts to dispose of her remains, the bizarre details continue to emerge. The allegation that the kids partied at the house after the murder with the body decomposing in the back of a car parked in the garage is enough to seal their fate with your average jury.

The murder trial for 15-year-old Tess Damm and her 17-year-old boyfriend, Bryan Grove, is a long way off, but many already have made up their minds.

Paul Mones has seen it all before.

"These cases are very easy to prosecute," said the Portland, Ore., attorney who specializes in defending children charged with parricide (killing a parent). ....

"Brain development isn't complete until a person is about 21 or 22," Spiegle said. "For adolescents, the decision to resolve a problem is usually based on impulse and very inadequate ability to form good judgments in crisis."

The crime often is committed in a "very frenetic way," he said, followed by a feeling of great relief or euphoria.

The circumstances of parricide cases vary widely, Mones said, but two features appear in the case files of almost every murder of a parent by a child.

One is that the children have been abused and that the abuse observed by people on the outside is just a fraction of what the child endured, Mones said. "It's the proverbial tip of the iceberg."

The other constant is that the tragedy could have been prevented, if only a cop, a teacher, a relative, a neighbor - somebody, anybody - had bothered to listen.

Read Diane Carman's article here