A 14-year-old boy in Cheyenne, Wyoming, pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of his mother. The incident occurred on March 7 after an argument over a stolen tablet. Defense attorneys cited years of alleged verbal abuse as a factor.
Havoc Leone appeared in Laramie County District Court on Monday for his arraignment, where he entered a not guilty plea to the charge of killing his 41-year-old mother, Theresa McIntosh. Prosecutors allege that Leone shot McIntosh in the back of the head with her Taurus 9 mm handgun while she was doing a puzzle on the bedroom floor. The shooting followed a dispute in which McIntosh and her common-law husband accused Leone of stealing a tablet from one of her work clients. Court documents state that Leone retrieved a notebook with the tablet's password from his closet, along with the gun, which he had taken from his mother's vehicle a week earlier after an argument over his grades. He then threw the notebook at McIntosh before firing the fatal shot from behind her as she faced away. Leone's defense attorneys argued that McIntosh had verbally abused him throughout his childhood, frequently calling him 'r—ed,' slapping him, and pulling his hair. They claimed she was mentally ill and that the abuse reached a breaking point when she asked if he was 'r—ed,' to which he replied, 'Yes, Mom,' before the shooting, according to courtroom reporting by Cowboy State Daily. Prosecutors, however, said Leone had planned the killing for some time. Assistant District Attorney Kelly Strickland told the court that McIntosh called her son a 'thief' that day and asked if he was 'r—ed' right before he pulled the trigger, responding, 'Yes, Mom.' A judge denied the defense's request to reduce bail, keeping Leone in custody on a $500,000 bond. Charged as an adult, his trial is set for August 10.
