Judge rules Pa. boy can appeal adult status in slaying of dad’s pregnant girlfriend
By APThursday, May 13, 2010
Pa. boy can appeal adult ruling in shooting case
NEW CASTLE, Pa. — A judge has ruled a 12-year-old western Pennsylvania boy charged with fatally shooting his father’s pregnant fiancee can appeal the decision to try him as an adult.
Lawrence County Judge Dominick Motto in March ordered Jordan Brown to stand trial as an adult in the 2009 slaying of Kenzie Houk and her unborn son in their farmhouse in the rural town Wampum. Brown was 11 at the time of the shooting.
The judge on Wednesday changed the wording in his ruling to allow Brown’s attorneys to file an appeal.
The original ruling found the boy was unlikely to be rehabilitated in juvenile court because he won’t take responsibility for the crime. But the boy’s attorneys argued making him acknowledge the crime to avoid trial as an adult amounts to self-incrimination.
Information from: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, pghtrib.com
