Juvenile Court

Fearing that sentencing a 14-year-old boy to an adult prison for voluntary manslaughter would result in his being "physically and psychologically abused," Common Pleas Judge Paul Ribner yesterday said he wants Wesley Robinson retried and sentenced in Juvenile Court. "I don't think a mandatory sentence (of five years) as an adult would be appropriate in this case," Ribner said after rejecting motions for a new trial. Robinson, of 52nd Street near Cedar Avenue, was tried in adult court and convicted by a jury of the Jan. 15, 1986, fatal shooting of Andre Floyd, 18, who was mildly retarded.

A 16-year-old boy charged with attempting to kill his mother and another woman last month will be tried as a juvenile, not an adult. Assistant Public Defender Maureen Repetto and Deputy District Attorney Kevin Kelly agreed to move the case of William J. O'Neill Jr. into Juvenile Court. Repetto said that A. Leo Sereni, president judge of Delaware County Court, was expected to sign the order. O'Neill was arrested Aug. 3 after his mother, Lori Cahill, and the other woman, Diane Galloway, said he had attacked them with a knife and rubber mallet, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

The attorney for a 21-year-old Aston woman accused of setting a fire eight years ago that killed her uncle and cousin has asked that she be tried as a juvenile rather than as an adult. Kelly Ann Mullen of the 200 block of Raymond Avenue was arrested in April and charged with homicide and related charges in the fire, which killed her uncle Joseph Wallace, 47, and her cousin John Wallace, 13, on Feb. 5, 1980. Mullen, who was 12 at the time, was spending the night at the Wallaces' residence in the first block of Dogwood Lane, Aston, when she deliberately set fire to a hockey net in a first-floor den, according to a confession police said she gave on April 7. Before her arrest, authorities had questioned her about threatening telephone calls made to the home of Aston Police Chief James C. McCarthy in April.

PITTSBURGH - A boy who was 11 when he was accused of killing his father's pregnant fiancée and her unborn son was found guilty Friday of their 2009 shotgun slayings. Lawrence County Court Judge John Hodge found Jordan Brown, now 14, delinquent, the juvenile court equivalent of a guilty verdict, in the deaths of Kenzie Houk, 26, and her unborn child. The judge closed the trial, held about 45 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, to the media and all but close relatives because of the boy's age during the killings.

The case of an 18-year-old accused of killing a friend in a game of Russian Roulette has been transferred to juvenile court. James Burr of Caln Township faced charges of criminal homicide, murder and involuntary manslaughter in the killing of Anthony Glasco, 17, of Coatesville, last January. Burr was 17 at the time. In her Oct. 1 decision to transfer the case to juvenile court, Judge Paula Fransico Ott cited testimony from a psychiatrist, Bruce Mapes, that Burr was "immature for his age" and would need at least two years of rehabilitation.

The attorney for a 16-year-old Bristol Borough youth awaiting trial on charges of first-degree murder has asked a Bucks County judge to move the case to juvenile court. Attorney Raymond F. McHugh filed the motion Tuesday on behalf of Mark Graber, 16, of the 500 block of Pond Street, who is charged with the Feb. 10 fatal shooting of Shane Reilly, 18, who lived in the 900 block of Spring Street, also in Bristol. McHugh contended that Graber should be handled as a juvenile because of his age and lack of a criminal record and because the juvenile system would be better able to handle Graber's needs.

An attorney for the 15-year-old girl accused of luring Fishtown teenager Jason Sweeney to his death filed a motion yesterday requesting that his client's murder trial be transferred from adult to Juvenile Court. Defense attorney William J. Brennan cited Justina Morley's young age, lack of a criminal record and history of mental-health disorders, and the nature of her alleged role in the May 30 slaying. According to testimony at the preliminary hearing last month, Morley lured 16-year-old Sweeney to a vacant lot with the promise of sex. There, prosecutors charge, three boys attacked Sweeney and beat him to death for the $500 he had earned working construction with his father.

They were secretaries, civil servants, business owners and nurses. Most were in their middle years. Some were married, one was a mother-daughter pair. All had a desire to help young people. About 25 prospective volunteers gathered in Mount Holly last week to learn about opportunities to work in one of several programs designed to make the county's court system more humane, more efficient and more accountable. The County Superior Court Family Case Management Division offers training sessions several times a year for citizens who want to work in juvenile programs.

An Allegheny County grand jury's indictment Friday of state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin represents a new low for Pennsylvania's highest court, but it could prove to be a valuable driving force for reforming the state's discredited system of electing its appellate judges. Melvin, 56, says she will fight the criminal charges that she misused her taxpayer-funded staff while serving as a Superior Court judge by having it do political campaign work in her 2009 pursuit of a state Supreme Court seat.

Sandwiched among his parents, sisters and grandmother in Courtroom 1106, the lanky teen bounces his knee and fidgets. This is the most terrifying day in the life of 16-year-old Edmond Pavrette. He faces robbery, theft and weapons charges. If his case remains in adult court, he could be locked up for as long as 47 years. Dressed in a crisp striped shirt and a tie, Edmond moves to the defense table, placing his asthma inhaler in front of him. Common Pleas Judge Legrome Davis, a towering man, is perched on the bench before him. Edmond's fate rests in his hands.

An Allegheny County grand jury's indictment Friday of state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin represents a new low for Pennsylvania's highest court, but it could prove to be a valuable driving force for reforming the state's discredited system of electing its appellate judges. Melvin, 56, says she will fight the criminal charges that she misused her taxpayer-funded staff while serving as a Superior Court judge by having it do political campaign work in her 2009 pursuit of a state Supreme Court seat.

PITTSBURGH - A boy who was 11 when he was accused of killing his father's pregnant fiancée and her unborn son was found guilty Friday of their 2009 shotgun slayings. Lawrence County Court Judge John Hodge found Jordan Brown, now 14, delinquent, the juvenile court equivalent of a guilty verdict, in the deaths of Kenzie Houk, 26, and her unborn child. The judge closed the trial, held about 45 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, to the media and all but close relatives because of the boy's age during the killings.

A 22-year-old Delaware County man who accidentally killed his best friend during a 2006 underage drinking party waived his preliminary hearing Thursday morning on charges that he drunkenly drove his car into a Chester County garage on Thanksgiving. Sean Owen O'Neill Jr. of Glen Mills, who appeared before District Judge William D. Kraut, narrowly avoided being hauled to prison in handcuffs. Kraut set bail at $10,000 cash, despite pleas from defense attorney Vincent P. DiFabio that O'Neill, who was accompanied by his mother, Eileen O'Neill, could not post it. DiFabio, who has represented O'Neill since he accidentally shot and killed Scott Sheridan, a Cardinal O'Hara High School classmate, assured the judge that his client always shows up for court.

CHARDON, OHIO - The teenager accused of killing three students in a shooting rampage in an Ohio high-school cafeteria chose his victims at random and is "someone who's not well," a prosecutor said yesterday as the teenager was brought to juvenile court. T.J. Lane, 17, admitted taking a .22-caliber pistol and a knife to Chardon High and firing 10 shots at a group of students sitting at a cafeteria table Monday morning, prosecutor David Joyce said. The hearing came hours after the death toll rose to three, and as schoolmates and townspeople grappled with the tragedy and wondered what could have set the teen killer off - a mystery that the court appearance did nothing to solve.

CHARDON, Ohio - The teenager accused of killing three students in a shooting rampage in an Ohio high school cafeteria chose his victims at random and is "someone who's not well," a prosecutor said Tuesday as the slightly built young man appeared in juvenile court. T.J. Lane, 17, admitted taking a .22-caliber pistol and a knife to Chardon High and firing 10 shots at a group of students sitting at a cafeteria table Monday morning, Prosecutor David Joyce said. Joyce said Lane would probably be charged with three counts of aggravated murder and other offenses.

Winston Charleston, the 14-year-old from Tacony whose late-night joyride this summer caused the death of a Bucks County man, likely will be sentenced to four years in a juvenile detention facility. In Municipal Court on Wednesday, the District Attorney's Office and Charleston's lawyer presented the judge with a tentative plea agreement. The case against Charleston will be transferred to Juvenile Court. There, probably within a week, Charleston will plead guilty to vehicular homicide, aggravated assault, and related charges in the crash that killed Daniel Fouracre, 22, of Bensalem.

ON JUNE 27, Winston Charleston turned 14. On June 30, he became a man in the eyes of the Pennsylvania court system. The Tacony youth's rapid maturation is tied to a chain of childish mistakes that have had adult consequences: He swiped the keys to his sleeping mother's Chrysler Sebring, took three buddies joyriding, tried to outrun a state trooper and crashed - going 85 mph - into a Volkswagen Jetta on Academy Road, in the Northeast. There's no dispute that just after 2 a.m. June 30, Charleston killed Daniel Fouracre, 22, a Bucks County man riding in the Jetta being driven by his girlfriend, Jessica Feldman, 20. The question now is: What should happen to Charleston?

THE ISSUE of trying juveniles as adults has never been more controversial in Philadelphia than during the case of Miriam White, who, in 1999, became the youngest person in the city ever charged with murder. On the evening of Aug. 20, White, 11, bolted from her family's South Philadelphia rowhouse with an 8-inch kitchen knife. She was angry because someone had said something to her about her letting the cat out of the house. While rambling down a sidewalk, White, who suffered from mental-health issues and a history of psychiatric problems, spotted a stranger, Rosemarie Knight, 55, who was walking her dog on her 27th wedding anniversary.

A Philadelphia judge today accepted an agreement between a city prosecutor and defense attorney that will allow Winston Charleston, the 14-year-old charged with causing a fatal car crash in June, to plead guilty in juvenile court and spend four years in a treatment center. The agreement, announced by Common Pleas Judge Benjamin Lerner during a "decertification" hearing, spares Charleston of being tried in adult court. Four years in juvenile detention is the longest period of time state law allows a juvenile to be held for his initial placement, said Assistant District Attorney Beth McCaffery, who reached the deal with defense attorney James P. Lyons.

HE WAS JUST 14 when he and another youth robbed a woman, and then tried to rob an 87-year-old man outside his Cedarbrook home, but ended up fatally shooting the World War II veteran. Von Combs was charged with murder and held for trial in adult court along with India Spellman, then 17. Spellman is charged with firing the bullet that went into the chest of George Greaves, who had just finished mowing the lawn of his tidy home on Pickering Street near Phil Ellena on Aug. 18, 2010.