Family who lost 11-year-old son forgives accused killer

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Andy Cerota
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(5/16/07 - KTRK/HOUSTON) (KTRK) -- A judge says the man accused of murdering an 11 year old boy is a danger to the community.

As attorneys from both sides begin to build their case, the young victim's family is offering forgiveness to his accused killer.

Raymond Shaw, 58, has been ordered to undergo a twenty-one day mental health evaluation. While members of the young boy's family admit they'll never understand why Jonathan Dixson, 11, was killed, they found it in their hearts to forgive the man accused of murdering him.

Raymond Shaw showed no emotion as a judge doubled his bond from $50,000 to $100,000. Though he cannot speak, Shaw's attorney says his client has expressed deep remorse through handwritten notes over the shooting death of Dixson, 11.

"I couldn't tell you whether he's competent to stand trial now," said defense attorney Skip Cornelius. "He is very distraught, crying, he can't speak because of his throat cancer that he's had in the past."

Shaw's son, Raymond Junior, couldn't bear to see his dad like this. The 28-year-old left the courtroom in tears. As difficult as the past few days have been, the young boy's cousin says faith has taught her family to forgive.

"We believe in God," said cousin Pamela Jones. "We have to forgive him for that. It hurts us, we're hurting deeply but we have to forgive him."

Shaw is accused of chasing Dixson out of his house and shooting him with a sawed-off shotgun. According to police, Shaw claims the boy pushed and cursed at him as he was leaving the house. Prosecutors say while this may seem like a concrete case of murder, it's not that simple.

"We're living in a CSI kind of world right now," said prosecutor Rachel Palmer. "Everybody thinks that cases like this are clear cut but there's always some issue."

Shaw is now on suicide watch. This case will be presented to a grand jury in the next 90 days. He's due back in court on June 13th.
(Copyright © 2007, KTRK-TV)

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