Introduction
As reported by Pittsburgh radio station KDKA (2009), an 11-year-old boy Jordan Brown that is accused of murdering his father’s fiancée and her unborn son is not likely to be tried as a juvenile offender. It is natural that the boy’s attorneys are expected to appeal for letting the boy to be moved to the juvenile facility (Mandak, 2010, para. 3). Though Lawrence County District Attorney John Bongivengo is not likely to oppose the decision to move Brown to the juvenile facility, he offered “the now 12-year-old boy to be tried as an adult” (2010).
Case Analysis
It is natural that sometimes young children are jealous of their parents, especially when there are younger children in the family. This case demonstrates the feeling of jealousy which caused a murder of a 26-year-old Kenzie Marie Houk who was a fiancée of the boy’s father. Everything happened in their farmhouse in New Galilee when Jordan Brown took a 20-gauge gunshot and shot Houk which lead to the death of a male fetus; “Houk was 8 1/2 months pregnant when she died of a shotgun blast to the back of her head as she lay in bed; the male fetus died from a resulting lack of oxygen.” (Mandak, 2010, para. 2). The boy is not likely to admit his guilt as he does not demonstrate a clear recognition of what had happened.
The accused was examined by two doctors, while in both cases he denied his guilt and the fact of murder and “tended to ‘minimize’ his wrongdoing and to ‘deny’ and ‘shift blame’ for his misdeeds.” (Daily American, 2010, para. 11). It is natural that the judge is basing his decision on the evidence presented by doctors. Moreover, the judge Dominick Motto is refusing to move Brown to the juvenile facility because “This offense was an execution-style killing of a defenseless pregnant young mother. A more horrific crime is difficult to imagine” (Daily American, 2010, para. 3). Besides, there is a clear evidence of that the victim was murdered with a 20-gauge shotgun, while “he threw the spent shell casing along a path on his way to a bus and went to school” (Daily American, 2010, para. 6). This means that the boy was concealing the direct evidence of crime.
The boy, now 12, is still denying his guilt; a year ago his attorneys had filed a petition asking to move him to the juvenile detention facility: “”The proof of the minor child’s guilt is not evident; the presumption of guilt is not great; and at this point, it is unlikely that this 11 year old defendant will spend life in prison” (KDKA, 2009, para. 4). As we can see, the boy is still expected to be tried as an adult waiting for the decision of the judge in the jail for adult offenders.
Conclusion
Though the boy is very young (12 years old), he is expected to be tried as an adult because he does not accept his guilt and some minor possibility of offense again, as claimed by defense psychologist Kirk Heilbrun (Daily American, 2010, para. 10). There is no decision on the case yet but defense attorneys and prosecutors are likely to agree on moving Jordan Brown accused of shooting his father’s fiancée and a fetus to the juvenile detention facility.
Reference List
Mandak, J. (2010). Boy faces adult trial in death of Pa. woman, fetus. Web.
KDKA. (2009). Da won’t fight 11-year-old’s move from adult jail. Web.
Daily American. (2010). Adult trial for boy in death of Pa. woman, fetus. Web.