NEW CASTLE, Pa., Aug. 24 (UPI) -- A Pennsylvania teenager charged with shooting his father's fiancee when he was 11, killing her and her unborn child, will be tried as a juvenile, a judge said.
Common Pleas Judge Dominick Motto reversed a decision he made last year that Jordan Brown, now 13, should be tried as an adult, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. An appellate panel ruled this year a juvenile cannot be forced into an adult trial simply for not admitting the crime.
Jordan will now go before a judge instead of a jury. If convicted, he can be sentenced only to a juvenile facility and must be released at 21, while an adult conviction for murder would have carried a sentence of life with no parole.
Kenzie Houk, 26, of New Beaver, was killed with a 20-guage shotgun. Prosecutors argued Jordan planned the crime with a certain amount of sophistication, while defense lawyers pointed to his lack of a violent history as a sign he could be rehabilitated.
Defense lawyer Dennis Elisco called the decision "a relief."
"It's long overdue and clearly the correct result," he said.
