Original article no longer available
Press Republican
Dec 17, 2005
By DENISE A. RAYMO, Staff Writer
MALONE — The young man who attacked his father with an ax a year ago will likely receive in-patient psychiatric help rather than serve time in state prison for attempted murder.
Eric Jeror, 20, of Lake Titus was sentenced to a mental-health facility for treatment by Franklin County Court Judge Robert G. Main Jr. A grand jury indicted Jeror in September for second-degree attempted murder and first-degree attempted assault.
A month later, he pleaded not responsible by reason of mental disease or defect, claiming he did not know what he was doing when he attacked his father, Keith Jeror, at the family home at 12653 State Route 30 on Jan. 16, 2005.
In papers supplied to Main, Champagne spelled out the evidence and related information that had accumulated during the extensive State Police investigation of the case.
Jeror had been prescribed twice the recommended dosage of the powerful anti-depressant Effexor, which is not supposed to be prescribed to teens and is under wide scrutiny in the legal and psychiatric communities.
One of Jeror’s doctors told the boy’s mother, Lori, that as long as it kept him calm, the pot smoking was OK. But, Champagne said in the documents, the advice to combine pot use and Effexor “seems to clearly cause concern.”
The paperwork states that Jeror was “a superior student until his 10th grade wherein he experienced a complete destruction of his academic career.”
Since then, he has had suicidal tendencies and had verbally threatened to kill his father but never acted on it.
That day, Lori Jeror said in her police statement, her son had gotten up about noon and told her he was going to kill his father when the older man got home. He has been unable or unwilling to adapt to life behind bars, having spent nearly a year in the County Jail. Sending the young man to state prison “would likely lead the defendant down a path of no return.”
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Teen charged in ax attack: Son allegedly tried to kill his father, state troopers say
Press Republican
DENISE A. RAYMO, Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
LAKE TITUS — A Lake Titus teen was charged with attempted murder for allegedly attacking his father with an ax Sunday afternoon.
Keith D. Jeror, 50, was fighting for his life in a Burlington hospital Monday after being repeatedly struck on the head with an ax reportedly wielded by his 19-year-old son, Eric.
Officials listed him in critical but stable condition Monday at Fletcher Allen Health Care, the hospital he was transferred to after initially being rushed to Alice Hyde Medical Center in Malone.
Eric Jeror was charged with second-degree attempted murder, arraigned before Malone Town Justice John Marsden and taken to Franklin County Jail, where he is being held without bail.
Keith Jeror and his wife, Lorie, 46, own and operate Tri-Lake Aquarium Pet Shop in the K-mart Plaza in Malone. Eric also worked there.
People in Lake Titus, a small hamlet 10 miles south of the Village of Malone, were trying to comprehend what happened at the small gray house at 12653 Route 30.
State Police investigators said Keith and Eric Jeror had had an argument Saturday, but they would not say what it was the father and son disagreed about.
The following day, police said, Mr. Jeror came home from work about 3:20 p.m. and was watching television in the living room when Eric allegedly attacked him with an ax.
State Police Capt. Robert LaFountain characterized Eric’s actions as a “surprise attack,” saying there had been “no indication of a heated argument.”
Mrs. Jeror, who had been watching television in a nearby bedroom, heard the commotion, came out to see what was going on and was allegedly attacked by her son in the kitchen, police said.
She saw her husband bleeding on the floor but was able to get away from Eric and run out of the house. Her son caught up to her, police said, and the two struggled again before Mrs. Jeror was able to break free.
She ran to a neighbor’s house about 3:55 Sunday afternoon to summon help for her husband.
“She came running to my brother’s house,” said Rick Williams, who lives kitty-corner from the Jerors. “I was just coming back from my parent’s house and stopped to my brother’s, and he was on the phone talking to the police.
“I could tell something happened, and when I tried to get him to tell me, he kept waving me off while he was on the phone.
“He finally hung up and said she had come running over here to say her son hit her husband with an ax,” Williams said. “She thought he was dead.”
He said the State Police arrived quickly, as did the Malone Callfiremen, who treated Mr. Jeror and also took Mrs. Jeror away on a stretcher.
District Attorney Derek Champagne said Mrs. Jeror had suffered minor injuries but didn’t need further medical treatment.
“Nobody could believe it,” Williams said of the incident in his neighborhood. “You hear about stuff like this happening on TV.”
Eric was arrested without incident.
Armed with search warrants from County Court Judge Robert G. Main Jr., the State Police Troop B Forensic Identification Unit found the ax and collected it as evidence.
Police said additional charges are expected to be lodged against Eric as the investigation continues.