Prince George’s County officials said July 6 state law prevents a 12-year-old charged with second-degree murder from being tried as an adult in the alleged beating death of a two-year-old girl.
According to John Erzen, spokesman for Prince George’s State’s Attorney’s office, the suspect’s age and offense level automatically gets him tried as a minor.
“If you are 13 and under you automatically get charged as a juvenile,” Erzen said. “The only way you get waved up is if you get charged with first-degree murder.”
The death occurred July 3 in the 1800 block of Taylor Ave. in Fort Washington. Police say that the victim’s father called 911 after finding her unresponsive. The father, with the help of a 911 dispatcher, then attempted to administer CPR on the victim.
When paramedics arrived, they took the victim to a local hospital where she was later pronounced dead. An autopsy was performed the following day and concluded that the cause of death was blunt force trauma.
As police continued to investigate, the 12-year-old was identified as the suspect and arrested. The case has been assigned to juvenile court and the suspect has been taken to Cheltenham Youth Facility, formerly known as Boys’ Village.
Officials will neither confirm or deny the possibility of the boy facing a charge of first-degree murder which would result in his trial being moved to circuit court.