No, “boy killer” doesn’t mean an adult that killed a boy. Rather, more shockingly, it refers to a 12-year-old who brutally murdered both of his grandparents with a shotgun 7 years ago. Christopher Pittman, now 19, was sentenced to 30 years in prison and had appealed his conviction all the way to the Supreme Court, who have denied it.

The justices, without comment, refused to intervene. At issue was whether the state properly used its discretion to try Pittman as an adult, whether the sentence was excessive, and whether mitigating factors should apply.

Outside a death-penalty context, the high court has offered little recent guidance on how to treat underage defendants.

Pittman’s lawyers argued no other inmate in the United States is serving so severe a sentence for a crime committed at such an early age.

The inmate’s legal team, from the University of Texas Law School, expressed disappointment at the high court’s refusal to accept the case.

Michele Deitch, an attorney and adjunct professor, speculated the justices may “have recognized a growing national trend against sentencing young children to harsh mandatory terms in prison, and wants to give state legislatures the opportunity to correct this problem before it rules on the issue.”

And here we thought butter knives weren’t dangerous. Apparently they are, if you throw them hard enough.

Tyler Hemmert said he and a friend were sitting on a park bench when another boy became angry with them and threw a knife at them.

The butter knife became lodged in Tyler’s head between his scalp and skull. “It, like, stung like a bee for a while,” Tyler said.

Tyler said he could still feel the knife. “I could see the handle of the butter knife, sticking out,” he said. “That’s when I freaked out.”

Another day, another “pit bull mauls someone” story.

uthorities are looking for a pit bull that attacked a Cheektowaga toddler. There are concerns about whether the dog was updated on its rabies shots.

Two year old Brianna Warden has been through a lot over the past few days, and she’s got the scars to prove it. It all started when she and her mom were returning from a nearby park on Friday afternoon.

Anna said, “I came inside and the dog was sitting on the steps right here.”

It was the upstairs neighbors dog, a two year old Pit Bull named Doo.

Out of all the worries we have, we never thought we would have to be paranoid about our son participating in a game of tug-of-war.

Henry Barrett and Mitch Helfer both had their right hands partially severed in the tug-of-war in October.

Barrett said he remembered hearing a “snap” and realizing almost immediately his right hand was bleeding and numb.

“It turned the muscles into hamburgers and severed 90 percent of the nerves. What wasn’t severed was severely traumatized. Three bones were snapped clean in half,” said Barrett.

Not to get all judgmental, but how on earth does a mother not notice when their young teen is getting completely hammered on a daily basis?

She started drinking heavily at the age of 12. And by the time she was 14, Natasha Farnham was told by shocked doctors that she was the youngest patient they had ever seen with liver failure caused by alcohol abuse.

She was drinking up to six bottles of wine a day - and now, at 18, she has been warned that if she drinks again she will die.

Her descent into a life of ruined health and petty crime again illustrates the perils of cheap alcohol and the culture of binge-drinking that grips Britain.

The teenager wants to tell her story to warn others of the dangers.

Sure, they have a gigantic salad bar and all, but we don’t recommend Ruby Tuesday as an appropriate place to abandon your child.

According to police, employees of the restaurant at 50 Shunpike Road called police after they found the infant alone in a booth in the dining area. Police eventually were able to locate the father, Andrew Yu, 32, of Hemlock Court. Police would not say where they found Yu or how long he was away from the infant.

Yu was charged with leaving a child unsupervised in a place of public accommodation. He was released from police custody after posting a $500 non-surety bond, meaning he did not have to put up any cash or other collateral. Yu is scheduled to appear Tuesday at Middletown Superior Court.

Well, now we know why those crazy kids got engaged last week.

Ashlee Simpson is pregnant, a source confirmed to Usmagazine.com.

The singer, 23, is expecting her first child with fiancé Pete Wentz, 28.

Simpson and the Fall Out Boy frontman announced their engagement Wednesday.

“We are thrilled to confirm their engagement and congratulate this happy couple,” a spokesperson for the couple told Us. “Beyond that there is nothing to say.”

The Supreme Court is reviewing the case of Patrick Kennedy, a Louisiana man sentenced to death for raping his 8-year-old stepdaughter. Kennedy’s lawyer argues that executing him violates the 8th Amendment of the Constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Do you agree? While people like Kennedy are indeed the scum of the earth, should we as a society really dole out capital punishment for cases other than murder? Of course, we’re a bit hypocritical because if he did this to our kid we wouldn’t need the death penalty as we would kill him with our own bare hands…

While the law that will guide the court’s decision is modern, the justices’ inspiration reaches back beyond the Bible. The concept of “an eye for an eye” was written in Exodus and, before that, by the ancient Babylonian ruler Hammurabi. Accordingly, the justices will have to decide whether Kennedy’s sentence is “proportionate” to his crime.

For four decades, absent such high crimes against the nation as treason, American law has mostly drawn a line when it comes to the death penalty: Only death warranted death. Any lesser crime, even rape, invited a lesser punishment.

Now the justices may be poised to rewrite that rule, potentially opening a series of questions about what other offenses merit the ultimate, irrevocable penalty, and perhaps inviting states to broaden the class of residents on Death Row.

On a side note, besides the abhorrent notion that judges would use the Bible as “inspiration” for their rulings, we thought Jesus denounced that whole “eye for an eye” thing in the New Testament. You know, the whole “turn the other cheek” stuff?