Neal And Jesse Eldridge Are Two Young Men On Trial. For Over Ten Years

Neal and Jesse Eldridge are two young men on trial. For over ten years, they suffered severe physical, emotional, and psychological abuse at the hands of their father. It ended the day they shot and killed him. Now Neal and Jesse are charged, as adults, with first degree murder; they face the possibility of life in prison. All this because Arkansas Department of Health Services, DHS, did nothing to step in and save these young lives. On January 24th, 1998, Rick Eldridge was supposed to take his sons, Neal and Jesse, to "Buckarama", a deer hunting show at the Little Rock Expo Center. Before they left that morning, Rick caught the two teens smoking cigarettes. He told them they could not go to "Buckarama"("Neal & Jesse Eldridge: Child Abuse Tragedy" 1), then tried to suffocate them. "Neal said his father picked him up and threw him headfirst into a wall" (Haddigan 1). As he left, Rick told Neal and Jesse that when he returned "he would beat them to death." He also gave them an "impossible list of household chores" to do before he returned, and said that he would kill them if they didn't. Fearing for their lives, the boys, ages 14 and 15 at the time, decided they had to protect their mother and sisters, as well as themselves, from the monster they called Dad. So the brothers loaded their .22-caliber, semi-automatic, Marlin rifles. Jesse stood behind the corner of the family's house, and Neal stood atop a "shed next to the house." When Rick got out of his truck, the boys began to fire. Jesse shot once, but he lost his nerve and lowered his aim to his father's legs("Neal & Jesse Eldridge: Child Abuse Tragedy" 1). Neal shot four more times aiming for Rick's head and neck. They then retreated into the"wooded area near the house and unloaded their rifles"(Shull 1). Neal and Jesse's mother, who worked nights at Wal-mart and slept during the day, woke upon hearing the gunfire. She came to the porch, and saw Rick lying there. Rachel, the boys' sister, ran to Larry Plummer, a neighbor, for help. Both Mrs. Eldridge and Rachel assumed that Rick had a seizure, and hit his head on the porch. When the police arrived, Neal and Jesse stepped out of the woods. "Jesse told State Police Cpl. Jerry Roberts that they had killed their father because of child abuse"(Haddigan 1). Roberts stated that both Neal and Jesse "were calm, collected, very precise, and respectful to the officer". Sgt. Aaron Duvall is the "Pope County Sheriff's Department criminal investigator in charge of the case." He said that Neal asked "if his father was dead", and then began to cry when he was told yes(Shull 1). Neal and Jesse are now charged as adults with first degree murder. The Arkansas state prosecutor said, "This was an ambush--definitely first degree murder." This means that "they could spend the rest of their lives in prison"("Neal & Jesse Eldridge: Child Abuse Tragedy" 1). An expert on family violence at the University of Pennsylvania, Richard Gelles, talked about this case during a "20/20" interview. He said "he was convinced the boys ?had a credible fear of their lives,'" and feels that the DHS failed these boys("Neal & Jesse Eldridge: Child Abuse Tragedy" 1). Many psychologists agree that exposure to physical abuse causes children, especially boys, to become aggressive and violent. It has also been proven that "26 percent of incarcerated delinquents who had committed murder had experienced physical abuse; they were also more likely than those who had not suffered abuse to have directed their violence toward members of their immediate family." Abused children often choose one of two options. They either fight or flee. "They become involved in crime, especially violent crime. Almost half of violent teenage crimes occur in homes during family arguments"(Fagan 1). Neal and Jesse's history has been filled with traumatic abuse. They stated that Rick "was an explosive, domineering abuser who savagely beat them, their sisters, and their mother for years"(Haddigan 1). Mrs. Eldridge described her husband "as a gun toting, pot-smoking 6'4" brute who punished his four children -- including his young daughters -- in bizarre ways." The first incident Jesse remembers, took place at the age of five. He said, " I was holding my spoon wrong when I was eating my jelly. And he slammed me down on the floor and stuck the handle of the spoon on my ear and it started ringing and bleeding." Rick Eldridge "wrapped soiled underwear around their heads,