2 Ind. boys, ages 15 and 12, to be tried as adults in slaying of older boy’s stepfather

Ind. boys to be tried as adults in stepdad slaying

WARSAW, Ind. — A judge ruled Thursday that a 15-year-old boy and his 12-year-old friend should be tried for murder as adults in the shooting death of the older boy’s stepfather, saying the state’s juvenile court system wasn’t equipped to handle such serious cases.

Kosciusko County Superior Court Judge Duane Huffer issued his ruling after nearly two-hours of testimony from law enforcement officials and relatives of the two boys.

Defense attorneys argued the boys would be better served in the juvenile system, but Huffer, who has 13 years of experience as a juvenile court judge, said it was not equipped to handle such cases.

“The act alleged was violent and unprovoked,” the judge said.

The Associated Press generally does not identify juveniles charged with crimes.

Sheriff’s Detective Jonathan Tyler testified that the boys and two of their friends, who didn’t take part in the actual slaying, plotted for at least a month to kill the 15-year-old’s stepfather, 49-year-old Phillip Danner, so that they could run away to Arizona.

On April 20, the boys met at a park going to the older boy’s home near Lake Wawasee, between Fort Wayne and South Bend, where he had gathered two of Danner’s handguns. Tyler said the two defendants waited in the living room until Danner appeared in a kitchen doorway, then shot him four times — once in the eye, once in the wrist, and twice in the chest.

“At least two of the wounds would have been fatal wounds,” Tyler said.

Police said the other two boys then came inside to see the body. One of them, also 12, faces juvenile charges of aiding in a murder and may yet be waived to adult court, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Daniel Hampton said. The other boy, whose age wasn’t released, hasn’t been charged.

John Barrett, an attorney for the 15-year-old boy, said after the hearing that his client should be considered innocent until proven guilty.

Thomas Earhart, the attorney for the 12-year-old murder suspect, declined to comment after the hearing.

According to police, the two 12-year-olds and the 15-year-old met up hours after the shooting and took off in the 15-year-old’s mother’s car. She was in Florida on vacation.

The three were caught early the next morning in Peru, Ill., when a store clerk became suspicious of them and alerted police. The boys were allegedly trying to convert coins into paper bills.

Police have speculated the boys may have been headed to Arizona to sell drugs because they ran away on April 20, an unofficial holiday for marijuana users. Police said they found alcohol, marijuana and a gun in the car.

One of the boys allegedly told police about the slaying, and Tyler and other deputies went to Danner’s house, where they found his body.

Relatives who testified at Thursday’s hearing said the incident was out of character for both boys, whom neighbors and family members described as good kids.

“I always thought that he was a wholesome young man,” said the grandfather of the 12-year-old murder suspect.