Multiple cases in the state are moving forward charging young juveniles as adults.
One is a 14-year-old Clearfield County boy, Aaron Klingensmith, accused of shooting and killing a 12-year-old girl.
Another being Nolan Grove, who was 13 at the time of allegedly killing a 12-year-old boy.
But what makes a juvenile able to be charged as an adult? In each of these cases it is because of the murder charge.
Law experts said when murder is one of the charges, no matter the age, charges will be filed as an adult.
“Juveniles that are tried as adults, it's typically for very violent, very heinous crimes, with murder always being in the adult system,” Cambria County district attorney Greg Neugebauer.
Juveniles under the age of 15, like the defendants in both of these cases, are not automatically taken to adult court for felony charges unless it is murder according to attorney Corky Goldstein.
Neugebauer said murder is not defined as a delinquent act and the juvenile system has no jurisdiction over an alleged murder case.
He said prosecutors could attempt to charge someone under 15 as an adult for other felony crimes, especially violent ones, but they would have to ask for the permission of the court.
Authorities said among the factors the court takes into consideration is the threat to the public, impact of the crime on the victim and the community, mental capacity and maturity of the juvenile, previous criminal record, and whether they could be rehabilitated in the juvenile system.
Once a juvenile turn 15 that changes according to officials.
“If you're 15 years of age or older and you commit a thing such as aggravated assault, rape, kidnapping, voluntary manslaughter, those types of crimes, and you use a deadly weapon, then we can direct file to the court of common pleas,” Neugebauer said. “We do not have to ask the court of common pleas to assume jurisdiction.”
Defendants in these types of cases are generally allowed to ask for a decertification hearing to decide if they will be tried as an adult of not.
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