NORTHRIDGE : Girl’s Trial Status in Slaying Debated
Prosecutors said Monday they need more time to investigate before deciding whether to ask that a 17-year-old Northridge girl be tried as an adult on charges of beating and stabbing to death a 62-year-old woman.
She is one of three teen-age sisters arrested Friday on suspicion of killing librarian Meta Frances Murphy last fall. She and her 16- and 13-year-old sisters appeared in Sylmar Juvenile Court after their arrest and denied the charge of murder--the legal equivalent of pleading not guilty in a higher court.
Deputy District Atty. William Ryder said that because the oldest girl was 16 at the time of the slaying, under California law she can be tried as an adult. The girls were arrested after allegedly bragging to schoolmates about killing Murphy, a neighbor who befriended them. She was stabbed 11 times in the back.
But Ryder said he needs to interview more witnesses and an informant in the case. He said authorities need to know more about the girl’s alleged involvement in the slaying, and her past personal history, before he decides whether to ask a Juvenile Court judge to declare her too incorrigible to remain in the juvenile justice system.
If she is charged as an adult, the girl would face a longer sentence in state prison if convicted, Ryder said.
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