ORANGE : Boy Faces Added Count in Mall Death
Prosecutors in the case of a 12-year-old boy accused of shooting to death a 12-year-old girl in a crowded Orange County mall last week amended the charges against the boy Thursday to include a misdemeanor count of exhibiting a firearm in a threatening manner.
Juan Manuel Cardenas, who has already been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the shooting of Jacalyn Calabrese and assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly pointing a .25-caliber pistol at another girl, was charged with the misdemeanor count as a precaution, said Deputy Dist. Atty. John D. Conley.
“We just want to make sure all the bases are covered,” Conley said Thursday after a court appearance in Santa Ana at which the defense was granted a continuance. The trial is now scheduled to begin Feb. 5 instead of Jan. 10.
Deputy Public Defender Chris Hilger said the additional count has a minimal effect on the case and will not cause him to alter his defense preparations.
Witnesses said Cardenas had been showing off the pistol for several weeks before the Dec. 18 shooting of his middle-school classmate in the Mall of Orange. They also said he held the gun to the temple of another girl, Keli Edwards, as a joke just minutes before shooting Jacalyn, who dared him to pull the trigger, apparently because she thought the gun was fake.
“The third count is a result of his pointing the firearm” at Keli Edwards, Conley said.
The boy has pleaded not guilty to all counts, Conley said.
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