Case of then-10-year-old charged in mother's killing reaches Wisconsin Supreme Court
MADISON, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Almost four years ago, a 10-year-old boy was charged with killing his mother in Milwaukee, allegedly because she wouldn't buy him a virtual reality headset. That boy is now a teenager, and his case has set off what could be a landmark legal battle.
His case currently sits in adult court, but his legal team is fighting to have him "reverse waived" into the juvenile system. On Tuesday, Sept. 8, the case went to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
“I don’t think it’s possible to read the facts and not feel like you just got punched in the gut. This is a horrible, tragic situation from every angle at which you could possibly view it,” Lisa Kumfer, who represented the Wisconsin Department of Justice during oral arguments, said.
The then-10-year-old was automatically charged as an adult in the 2022 killing of his mother. Current Wisconsin law calls for anyone 10 years old or older charged with intentional homicide to be tried in adult court.
When judges are considering moving such a case from adult court to juvenile court, they take three factors into consideration: whether the defendant can receive adequate treatment in the adult criminal justice system, the seriousness of the offense and whether reverse waiver will depreciate that seriousness, and if it will undermine the goal of deterring the juvenile and other juveniles from committing the same or a similar offense.
In considering those requirements, the defendant's age cannot be taken into consideration. That is the part of the law the defense, and now the court of appeals, believes is unconstitutional.
“To deny juvenile status to this child, who is 10, because we will not consider that age, would be unfair, and it does not consistently apply this court's doctrines with regard to procedural due process,” Bryan Stevenson, the lawyer representing the juvenile, said.
The state acknowledged that this case is unique, but they argue that the appeals court overstepped by ruling the Wisconsin statute surrounding reverse waiver consideration unconstitutional. The state argues the consideration of age needs to be part of the law, and that the Legislature needs to make the change.
“It might be unwise, it might be unfair as a justice principal, we definitely know things about the maturation of juvenile brains now that we didn’t know in 1993, but that means this needs to go to the Legislature to change it,” Kumfer said.
Ultimately, the lawyers for the then-10-year-old want his case to be sent to juvenile court or be sent back to appeals with guidance surrounding the consideration of age. A decision that is now in the hands of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.