About 250 people gathered in front of the Otero County Courthouse Sunday night. Children quietly held candles in the midst of the hubbub and parents stood beside them chanting.

"We love you Cody," they chanted.

And finally, in support of defense council Gary Mitchell, "Gary, Gary you're the man, if anyone can do it you can."

Petitions made their ways through the crowd, including a special one for children.

A special guest speaker from Texas shared her energy and exuberance with watchers as she told the story of the son she lost.

Linda Bruntmyr lost her son, Rodney Hulin, when the 16-year-old was sentenced to serve eight years in an adult prison for doing five hundred dollars worth of damage to property by arson.

Hulin paid for that damage with his life, Bruntmyr said. Raped repeatedly, Rodney sought fights with the guards just to get thrown in solitary confinement.

"He would pick a fight on purpose so he could get away from the abuse," Bruntmyr said. But after solitary the guards returned him to the adult population.

"Rodney called home and said, 'Mom, I am emotionally and mentally destroyed,'" she said.

Those were the last words Bruntmyr heard him say. Not long after, Rodney hung himself in his prison cell.

Since her son's death in January 1996, Bruntmyr has taken up the torch for youngsters in adult prisons and children who could be sentenced as adults. She is a powerful force behind the organization, Stop Prison Rape.

Bruntmyr and the participants in Sunday's vigil are now asking for mercy for Posey, 16. They would like to see him sentenced as a juvenile rather than as an adult.

Posey was convicted in Children's Court for the July 5, 2004 shootings of his father, Delbert Paul Posey; his stepmother, Tryone Posey; and his stepsister, Marilea Schmid, 13. He was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter in the death of his father; second degree murder in the death of Tryone; first degree murder in the death of Marilea; and guilty of four counts of tampering with evidence for hiding the bodies and destroying evidence.

Posey was 14 at the time of the shootings, which occurred on July 5, 2004, on Sam Donaldson's Lincoln County ranch. Delbert Posey was Donaldson's ranch manager.

Posey's aunt, Corliss Clees, said she talks with the boy daily and has told him about planned rallies and other support people around the country have shown him.

Testimony for Posey's sentencing begins today and is expected to last all week. Posey supporters plan peaceful demonstrations at Otero County Courthouse for the duration of the sentence hearing.

''He is scared, but positive,'' Clees said. "He's afraid to get up and speak in front of the judge. He's afraid it won't be perfect."

Clees said she was in ''total disbelief'' about the verdict and feared what could happen to Posey should he be sentenced to prison.

''To think of him as an adult and yet his childhood was stolen. I think of the horrors that can happen to him. Monsters in prison taking over where monsters on this side of the fence left off,'' she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.