How Fall City mass shooting suspect’s age will complicate court process

Because of his age and nearly two decades of legal precedent that requires courts to treat children differently from adults, the 15-year-old boy accused in a mass shooting near Fall City will have a far more complicated court case than if he were even a year older.

On Thursday, King County prosecutors charged the teenager in juvenile court with five counts of aggravated first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder. He is accused of killing his parents and three siblings and injuring his 11-year-old sister in their waterfront home south of Fall City early Monday.

The Seattle Times typically does not name juvenile suspects unless they are charged as adults.

In filing the charges, prosecutors also filed a motion seeking a “discretionary decline hearing,” in which they would make the argument that the juvenile court should decline jurisdiction and have the case transferred to adult court — a process that could take months.

The court process will play out differently than if he was an adult largely because of a trio of U.S. Supreme Court decisions, the first handed down in 2005, that found young people are considered less culpable than adults for criminal behavior, based on neuroscience showing that adolescent brains aren’t fully developed until their mid-20s. Science also has shown that adolescents possess an increased propensity for change and rehabilitation compared with adults.

Generally, juveniles are treated differently in several ways from adults in the criminal legal system.

First off, bail is rarely imposed in juvenile court and it’s usually only a question of whether a juvenile should be held in secure detention or released with conditions, which can include electronic-home monitoring.

Second is the choice of whether to keep a case in juvenile court or move it to adult, or superior, court.

Third, even if a juvenile case is sent to adult court and leads to a conviction, trial judges have unfettered discretion in sentencing and are not bound to follow standard sentencing ranges or impose mandatory sentencing enhancements as they do with adult defendants. Also, mandatory minimum sentences largely don’t apply to juveniles convicted in adult court — though juveniles convicted of aggravated murder are still subject to minimum sentences.

And fourth, even after a sentence has been handed down, the state Indeterminate Sentencing Review Board has the authority to grant early release to a juvenile prosecuted as an adult for most crimes after that person has served 20 years of a felony sentence.

A monthslong process

While 16- and 17-year-olds charged with murder and certain other serious violent offenses can be automatically charged as adults, a discretionary decline hearing is required before younger teens can be charged in adult court. Prosecutors must file a motion for discretionary decline at the same time charges are filed or else they lose the option to do so.

If a decline hearing is requested, it triggers a monthslong defense investigation into the myriad circumstances distinct to that case, including a juvenile’s school and home life, history of behavioral or mental health issues, and disciplinary actions or brushes with the criminal legal system.

In what is essentially a mini trial to determine whether it is in the juvenile’s or the public’s best interest to transfer a case to adult court, a juvenile-court judge must weigh eight factors — known as “Kent factors,” based on a 1966 U.S. Supreme Court decision — in determining whether a case stays in juvenile court or is transferred for adjudication in adult court.

Among the matters a judge must consider are the seriousness of the allegations and the sophistication and maturity of the juvenile.

Sometimes, a judge ultimately decides not to decline juvenile jurisdiction and the case remains in juvenile court. Other cases are resolved through plea negotiations before a decline hearing is held. For those convicted in juvenile court, the court’s jurisdiction typically ends on a person’s 21st birthday, but earlier this year, the state Legislature extended juvenile jurisdiction to age 25 for 14- and 15-year-olds convicted of first- and second-degree murder.

Rare charges

Filing aggravated murder charges against adults is rare, with four pending cases dating to 2019 still awaiting trial in King County.

It’s rarer still for juveniles to be charged with aggravated first-degree murder. The last two cases in recent memory involved teenagers who were automatically charged as adults in King County.

It’s unclear whether an aggravated first-degree murder case has ever been tried in King County Juvenile Court involving someone younger than 16. Aggravated murder is not a charge listed in the juvenile court statute.

Since the state Supreme Court struck down the death penalty in 2018 as unconstitutional for adult defendants, life in prison without the possibility of release is the only possible punishment for adults convicted of aggravated murder.

But both the U.S. and state Supreme Courts have ruled that mandatory life sentences for juveniles constitute cruel and unusual punishment and so are unconstitutional.

In Washington, juveniles convicted of aggravated first-degree murder must be sentenced to minimum and maximum terms, with a maximum sentence of life in prison. Those under 16 must be sentenced to a minimum of 25 years. Sixteen- and 17-year-olds must receive a minimum sentence of at least 25 years, though the minimum can be set higher for them, according to state law.

Regardless of whether they are older or younger than 16, juveniles convicted of aggravated murder as adults are also subject to review by the Indeterminate Sentencing Review Board, with the presumption that they will be released after serving 25 years. However, their sentences can be extended if board members determine they are more likely than not to commit another serious violent crime if released, based on their conduct while they are incarcerated.