10-Year-Old Writes Heartbreaking Letter, Begs Judge to Keep His Mom In Prison

#1

A 10-year-old boy's heartbreaking letter to a judge has gone viral, and his words have touched many hearts, as he begged for his own mother to remain behind bars. The child, identified as Bradyn Takach, sent a handwritten note asking that his mother Shannon Smith not be granted release.

Smith was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence after she stabbed and killed Takach's father. The violent crime occurred in front of Takach, who was four-years-old at the time, and his sister.

#2

Now she is set to appear in front of a judge during an early release hearing, prompting Takach to pour his heart out in a desperate plea to the judge.

The letter, reported exclusively by WLWT-TV, reads in part:

"Dear Judge Peeler, I feel that my mom should stay in prison because I seen her stab my dad clean through the heart with my sister in his arms. That took a big amount of happiness out of my and my sister's lives."

#3

His father was 25-year-old Robert Takach II. Smith claimed self defense during her trial. So far she has served six of her 10-year sentence.

"Life for me would be 10 times better if mom didn't kill my dad," Takach wrote. "I think it would be better for me and my sister if my mom would stay in prison because I'm afraid of her."

#4

The boy's letter was part of a campaign to keep Shannon Smith in prison, spearheaded by Takach's side of the family.

Smith had argued self-defense, but the jury found her guilty of a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.

She was sentenced to ten years in prison.

While reports and testimony point to physical abuse on both sides at various times, during the fatal 2009 altercation, Smith stabbed Takach once through the heart with a knife and washed the blade off, reports Dayton Daily News.

#5

Patricia Todd, who has been raising her grandchildren, told WLWT: 'Bradyn said that his daddy put him in a corner because he had gotten in trouble and then his mother got mad. Robbie was holding his sister Brooklynn, and he said that she got a knife and she came at his daddy and he shoved her away and then she came back again and she stabbed him.'

Takach was 25 at the time of his murder.