ANAHEIM : Family of Boy Says Shooting Accidental

The attorney for a 14-year-old youth charged with murdering his younger sister said Monday that the shooting was an accident and that the boy is very remorseful.

Police allege that Richard Hubler shot his 12-year-old sister, Gema Marie, June 14 in their Anaheim Shores home. If convicted of murder with a firearm, he could be held in the California Youth Authority until he is 25.

Deputy Public Defender Sharon Petrosino said the boy’s parents and two older brothers are convinced that the shooting was an accident and want the boy to be allowed to come home. Hubler’s father did not attend the hearing Monday before Orange County Juvenile Court Judge C. Robert Jameson.

Petrosino said she is trying to persuade Hubler’s parents to release a letter that the boy wrote to his comatose sister from his detention cell just after the shooting. Petrosino said the boy asked his father to read the letter to his sister because “he wanted her to know what he had to say.” Gema was removed from life-support systems and died four days after the shooting.

Petrosino said the boy carries a Mass card with a prayer on it from his sister’s funeral and also her picture. A judge would not permit the youth to attend Gema’s funeral.