|An appellate court ruled Monday that a Riverside juvenile court judge properly committed a 10-year-old boy, who killed his neo-Nazi father, to a state juvenile detention facility in 2013.

The defense claimed cumulative errors in the adjudicatory process and sought placement of the boy in a locked residential treatment center, according to court records.

Judge Jean P. Leonard found that the boy, who was age 10 at the time of the crime, committed murder when he shot and killed his father, Jeff Hall, on May 1, 2011, and should spend seven years in a state juvenile facility.

Hall led the Southwest chapter of a neo-Nazi group called the National Socialist Movement. The boy told police he shot his father as he slept on a couch because he was tired of Hall beating him and his stepmother, and was afraid to live with Hall if the couple divorced.

The boy’s attorneys argued the court considered statements made before he was advised of his rights, that no legal counsel was present for a mental health evaluation, and disputed that their client knew the wrongfulness of his conduct, according to court records.

But a 4th District Court of Appeal, Division 2 panel ruled the judge did not commit errors. At most, the timing of the rights advisement was deemed “harmless” in that it was one statement when there were “a myriad of other statements” after advisement.

The Press-Enterprise is not identifying the boy because of his age.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9075 or gwesson@pe.com