ERIE, Pa., April 3 (UPI) -- A Pennsylvania judge ruled Tuesday a 14-year-old boy accused of killing his father's fiancee should stay in detention until his juvenile adjudication trial.
Jordan Brown was charged as a juvenile in the February 2009 shooting deaths of Kenzi Houk, 26, and her unborn son. The juvenile was initially charged as an adult until a Lawrence County judge last year determined he should be tried as a juvenile, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Tuesday.
Under state law, a juvenile must be released from detention or adjudicated within 10 days of being charged, but Lawrence County Common Pleas Judge John Hodge said the hearing had been stalled because of a request by three newspapers to have Brown's adjudication open to the media and public. The newspapers' request was denied.
Brown's lawyers argued the boy had been denied his right to a speedy trial and should be released to his father. He has spent more than three years in the Edmund L. Thomas Adolescent Detention Center in Erie.
Houk's family said they want Brown to stay in custody.
Brown's juvenile adjudication hearing is scheduled for April 10, the Post-Gazette said. If he is found responsible for Houk's death, the state cannot detain him past his 21st birthday.
