NPR: Murder Trial (Certification hearing)

ANNOUNCER
Following six days of impassioned testimony to determine whether two 12-year-olds, charged with first-degree murder, should be tried as adults, Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges made his decision. Diane De Rooy reports.

DIANE
For a week Judge Bridges was faced by two children, seated and shackled at the ankles, so small that their feet barely touched the floor of the courtroom.

The boys, John Duncan and Manuel Sanchez, told police they shot and killed farmworker Emilio Pruneda last summer.

Because the murder was brutal the state asked the court to try the boys as adults, allowing a minimum sentencing of 20 years in an adult corrections facility if convicted.

Bridges said the crime was probably the most serious he had ever seen come before his bench.

But he also determined both children came from extremely dysfunctional homes. They had not developed values that consider the rights of others, but only of their own survival.

Bridges said he doesn’t consider the boys to be victims. He said there were only two victims in this crime: Emilio Pruneda and the people of Wenatchee, who he says are not sure now that they can see a 12-year-old coming at them without wondering if he is armed.

Giving weight to the probability of rehabilitation Bridges ruled to retain boys in the juvenile court. Duncan and Sanchez will be arraigned tomorrow.

For Northwest Public Radio, I’m Diane De Rooy.