Post by Melissa on Feb 1, 2011 22:13:48 GMT -5
www.vindy.com/news/2009/mar/25/11-year-old-suspect-in-killing-can-stand-trial/?newswatch
11-year-old suspect in killing can stand trial, judge rules
Pennsylvania State Police described the aftermath of the brutal slaying.
STAFF REPORT
NEW CASTLE, Pa. — Attorneys for Jordan Brown argued at his preliminary hearing before District Magistrate David Rishel that no physical evidence clearly links the boy to the shotgun shooting of his father’s pregnant girlfriend.
Rishel, however, ruled Tuesday there is enough evidence for the 11-year-old boy to stand trial.
Brown’s arraignment, should the case proceed in adult court, will be May 1. His case will then go on the trial list. He is charged with two counts of criminal homicide.
Kenzie Houk, 26, was shot the morning of Feb. 20 between 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. as she was lying in her bed at the farmhouse she rented with her boyfriend, Chris Brown, on Wampum-New Galilee Road near Wampum, Pa. Her 9-month-old fetus, a boy who would have been named Christopher, died for lack of oxygen.
Police allege Jordan shot Houk in the back of the head with a 20-gauge shotgun, then caught the bus to school with Houk’s 7-year-old daughter, Janessa.
Chris Brown was at work. Houk’s 4-year-old daughter, Adalynn, was home alone when she found her mother’s body. She came to the door of the farmhouse crying, and alerted a tree-trimming crew that was working in the yard, said Steve Cable, owner of the tree service.
“I went over. I said, ‘What’s wrong?’” Cable testified. “She said her mommy’s dead. I said, ‘Are you sure she’s not sleeping?’ She said no, she’s dead.”
Cable said he tried to call the property owner to get permission to go inside but could not reach him. So he called 911.
State police got the call around 10 a.m., and were at the house by 10:13 a.m., said Trooper Harry Gustafson of the state police’s New Castle post.
He described finding Adalynn crying inside, while in the bedroom to the right of the front door, he could see Houk lying on her bed.
Another trooper with him went into the bedroom while he took Adalynn to the couch, put a blanket on her and “put on SpongeBob.”
Gustafson went to the bedroom where, he said, it was very apparent Houk was dead.
He and the other trooper discussed what to do about the baby, he said, and decided to do resuscitation thrusts until an ambulance arrived in the hope of saving him.
Trooper Janice Wilson said she came to the house to take care of Adalynn until Children Services could arrive.
Wilson also went to Mohawk Elementary School, she said, to talk to Jordan, a fifth-grader there, and Janessa.
She said Jordan told her he’d seen a black truck, like one that belonged to a person who came to feed cattle on the farm, parked near the garage.
She said the boy told her he didn’t see anyone around, and he did not know if the truck was running.
In a later interview at 10 p.m. at his grandmother’s house, Wilson said, he told her the truck was white, and its headlights were on.
State Trooper Andrew Pannelle of the Butler post testified that he found a box of 20-gauge shotgun shells open in the victim’s bedroom and “six long guns,” including the shotgun police believe is the murder weapon, in the boy’s bedroom upstairs. The shotgun smelled as though it had been recently fired, he said.
State police also testified that a shirt and jeans the boy had on that day tested positive for gunshot residue.
But David Acker and Dennis Elisco, Jordan’s public defenders, say that doesn’t prove the boy killed Houk.
Acker pointed out the lab report states the residue could have gotten on the clothes by being in close proximity with a recently fired gun or by being in contact with a surface that was contaminated with residue. Guns at the house were used for hunting and target practice, they said.
Acker also said the pants the lab tested were not the pants the boy had on at school that day — he’d changed later at his grandmother’s house. Acker said that as soon as they realized that, they turned the right pair of pants over to the state police. Those pants have not been tested.
Lawrence County District Attorney John Bongivengo did not put Janessa on the stand. Janessa had told police that before she and Jordan left for school, she’d heard what she believed to be a gunshot in the house.
Bongivengo said after the hearing that he did not believe it was necessary to put her on the stand at this point, believing he had enough evidence for probable cause without her testimony.
Elisco and Acker said they intend to postpone a bail hearing for Jordan that had been set for Friday.
They said he is safe and thriving at the Edmund L. Thomas Adolescent Center in Erie.
They said they still intend to petition for the boy’s case to be moved to juvenile court.
It’s hard to tell if Jordan comprehends the magnitude of what he’s been charged with, Elisco said. The boy always has maintained he did not shoot Houk, Elisco said.
11-year-old suspect in killing can stand trial, judge rules
Pennsylvania State Police described the aftermath of the brutal slaying.
STAFF REPORT
NEW CASTLE, Pa. — Attorneys for Jordan Brown argued at his preliminary hearing before District Magistrate David Rishel that no physical evidence clearly links the boy to the shotgun shooting of his father’s pregnant girlfriend.
Rishel, however, ruled Tuesday there is enough evidence for the 11-year-old boy to stand trial.
Brown’s arraignment, should the case proceed in adult court, will be May 1. His case will then go on the trial list. He is charged with two counts of criminal homicide.
Kenzie Houk, 26, was shot the morning of Feb. 20 between 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. as she was lying in her bed at the farmhouse she rented with her boyfriend, Chris Brown, on Wampum-New Galilee Road near Wampum, Pa. Her 9-month-old fetus, a boy who would have been named Christopher, died for lack of oxygen.
Police allege Jordan shot Houk in the back of the head with a 20-gauge shotgun, then caught the bus to school with Houk’s 7-year-old daughter, Janessa.
Chris Brown was at work. Houk’s 4-year-old daughter, Adalynn, was home alone when she found her mother’s body. She came to the door of the farmhouse crying, and alerted a tree-trimming crew that was working in the yard, said Steve Cable, owner of the tree service.
“I went over. I said, ‘What’s wrong?’” Cable testified. “She said her mommy’s dead. I said, ‘Are you sure she’s not sleeping?’ She said no, she’s dead.”
Cable said he tried to call the property owner to get permission to go inside but could not reach him. So he called 911.
State police got the call around 10 a.m., and were at the house by 10:13 a.m., said Trooper Harry Gustafson of the state police’s New Castle post.
He described finding Adalynn crying inside, while in the bedroom to the right of the front door, he could see Houk lying on her bed.
Another trooper with him went into the bedroom while he took Adalynn to the couch, put a blanket on her and “put on SpongeBob.”
Gustafson went to the bedroom where, he said, it was very apparent Houk was dead.
He and the other trooper discussed what to do about the baby, he said, and decided to do resuscitation thrusts until an ambulance arrived in the hope of saving him.
Trooper Janice Wilson said she came to the house to take care of Adalynn until Children Services could arrive.
Wilson also went to Mohawk Elementary School, she said, to talk to Jordan, a fifth-grader there, and Janessa.
She said Jordan told her he’d seen a black truck, like one that belonged to a person who came to feed cattle on the farm, parked near the garage.
She said the boy told her he didn’t see anyone around, and he did not know if the truck was running.
In a later interview at 10 p.m. at his grandmother’s house, Wilson said, he told her the truck was white, and its headlights were on.
State Trooper Andrew Pannelle of the Butler post testified that he found a box of 20-gauge shotgun shells open in the victim’s bedroom and “six long guns,” including the shotgun police believe is the murder weapon, in the boy’s bedroom upstairs. The shotgun smelled as though it had been recently fired, he said.
State police also testified that a shirt and jeans the boy had on that day tested positive for gunshot residue.
But David Acker and Dennis Elisco, Jordan’s public defenders, say that doesn’t prove the boy killed Houk.
Acker pointed out the lab report states the residue could have gotten on the clothes by being in close proximity with a recently fired gun or by being in contact with a surface that was contaminated with residue. Guns at the house were used for hunting and target practice, they said.
Acker also said the pants the lab tested were not the pants the boy had on at school that day — he’d changed later at his grandmother’s house. Acker said that as soon as they realized that, they turned the right pair of pants over to the state police. Those pants have not been tested.
Lawrence County District Attorney John Bongivengo did not put Janessa on the stand. Janessa had told police that before she and Jordan left for school, she’d heard what she believed to be a gunshot in the house.
Bongivengo said after the hearing that he did not believe it was necessary to put her on the stand at this point, believing he had enough evidence for probable cause without her testimony.
Elisco and Acker said they intend to postpone a bail hearing for Jordan that had been set for Friday.
They said he is safe and thriving at the Edmund L. Thomas Adolescent Center in Erie.
They said they still intend to petition for the boy’s case to be moved to juvenile court.
It’s hard to tell if Jordan comprehends the magnitude of what he’s been charged with, Elisco said. The boy always has maintained he did not shoot Houk, Elisco said.