DA: forced to Charge Boy Murder Suspect as an Adult

PITTSBURGH — A Pennsylvania prosecutor said his hands are tied, and he has no choice but to charge an 11-year-old boy as an adult in the killing his father's pregnant girlfriend.
Lawrence County District Attorney John Bongivengo said Monday that Pennsylvania law doesn't permit him to file a criminal homicide charge against Jordan Brown in juvenile court.
Brown is charged as an adult with using his own 20-gauge shotgun to kill 26-year-old Kenzie Marie Houk Friday morning.
The gun was a Christmas gift from the boy's father, who was training him to be a hunter, the New York Daily News reported Sunday.
Because he's charged as an adult, Brown is in the county jail -- albeit separated from adult inmates. His attorney, Dennis Elisco, says being locked up with adults is inappropriate for a child and will file motions Monday to move the case to juvenile court and to let the boy's father post bail so he can get out of jail.
"I don't think anybody wants him there," Elisco said, referring to the county jail.

Houk was eight months pregnant with Brown's father's child, and also had two daughters, 7 and 4, who lived in the rural home with the Browns where authorities said she was slain as she lay in bed about 8 a.m. Friday.
After the shooting, the boy hopped onto a school bus with Houk's oldest daughter, police said. He was picked up from school several hours later after some tree trimmers called 911 when Houk's youngest daughter told them she thought her mother was dead.
Elisco said a judge likely won't hear his motions right away. Until then, he hopes to get the fifth-grader's school to send him assignments in jail.
"I want him to be occupied and busy and back, essentially, in school," Elisco said. "I wouldn't say he's in good spirits. He's confused. He looks and acts like a typical 11-year-old."
Elisco said jail officials can't even find clothes to fit the 4-foot-8 boy.
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"They put a shirt on him, he's swimming in it, and his pants are cuffed up about 10 times," Elisco said.
Lawrence County Warden Charles Adamo told the Associated Press on Sunday that he wanted to speak to a judge about moving the boy from an adult lockup to a juvenile detention center.
"I'm just going to speak to the judge [on Monday] because I don't have the facilities to accommodate somebody who's 11 years old," Adamo said.
Adamo said his 300-inmate jail cannot offer proper long-term care for Brown, of Wampum. more