a scared little boy

Shawn Hainstock made no secret of his tears Thursday after a Sauk County Circuit Court hearing for his 16-year-old son, Eric, who is charged with killing the principal of Weston School in September.
"I'm concerned (Eric) might say the wrong thing (in an adult prison) and somebody would hurt him," Shawn Hainstock said, tears in his eyes. "Somebody would kill him, and that would be that."
In his first public interview since the shooting, Shawn Hainstock said he visits his son in the Sauk County Jail every day or two. "He kind of breaks down and cries a lot," he said.
Sauk County Circuit Judge Patrick Taggart's decision last month that the younger Hainstock be tried as an adult was a "tragedy," Hainstock said. "My heart's been tore out," he said. "That just about killed me."
Eric Hainstock is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the killing of John Klang, who was shot three times with a handgun while Hainstock wrestled with him at the school on Sept. 29.
Shawn Hainstock's comments came after Taggart heard a request from Assistant Public Defenders Jon Helland and Rhoda Ricciardi that the teenager's videotaped confession to police be declared inadmissible at trial.
Ricciardi argued the youth was railroaded into confessing to the shooting by law enforcement officers. She said police didn't make sure Eric Hainstock understood his rights before they questioned him.
"This kid had his rights rammed down his throat," Ricciardi told Taggart.
Sauk County District Attorney Patricia Barrett countered that police were polite and thorough.
When the teenager said he was uncomfortable, police took his handcuffs off, she said. "Very, very quickly this confession occurs," he said.
On Thursday, Shawn Hainstock said Eric was drinking a lot of coffee to help him deal with confinement and sitting through court hearings.
"Nobody knows him like we do," Shawn Hainstock said. "They don't realize how loving a boy he is. He can be saved."
But he said his son is "getting railroaded."
Defense lawyers have argued the youth was abused from the time he was 2, suffered from hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder and had a troubled home life with his father and his adoptive mother.
Shawn Hainstock and his wife, Priscilla, have previously declined requests for interviews, but witnesses have testified that both parents abused him and failed to follow through on getting medication and counseling for the troubled boy when asked by school and social services workers.
Shawn Hainstock did not address those allegations Thursday.