Arraignment Postponed for Boy Charged in Shooting : Courts: Defense attorney says 17-year-old Thousand Oaks youth is distraught and under suicide watch at Juvenile Hall. Judge reschedules the hearing date for Aug. 9.

A 17-year-old Thousand Oaks boy charged with shooting his girlfriend while brandishing a handgun is distraught and under suicide watch at Juvenile Hall, his attorney said Monday, after a judge agreed to postpone the defendant’s arraignment.

“This young man has been severely traumatized,” defense attorney Victor Furio said outside court. “He is very concerned about the victim’s family. One of the reasons for the continuance of this trial is so I can gain his full cooperation.”

The husky boy sat hunched over the defense table as Superior Court Judge Steven Z. Perren asked if he would agree to waive his rights to a speedy arraignment.

“Yes,” the boy replied softly.

His parents sat behind him in the first row of the audience. They did not talk during the hearing, other than to identify themselves at the request of the judge. They left the Hall of Justice without comment.

The arraignment was rescheduled for Aug. 9.

Furio said the three additional weeks will give the defendant time to regain his composure and assist in his own defense.

He said the boy is in a virtual state of shock over the killing of his girlfriend, Jacqueline Reay, 16. In their only conversation, the boy has been cooperative but appeared unable to cope with the weight of accidentally shooting his girlfriend, the lawyer said.

“It’s difficult with his present state of mind for him to completely focus on his trial,” said Furio, a Woodland Hills lawyer.

The boy is charged with one count of murder in connection with last Wednesday’s shooting death of Jacqueline. She was shot once in the eye with a 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun at point-blank range.

Authorities said the boy swiped the gun from his father and had been flashing it in front of his friends for two days prior to the shooting. He also faces two counts of brandishing a firearm.

Furio, who believes the boy should have been charged with the lesser offense of involuntary manslaughter, said he did not know how long his client would be watched for possible suicide attempts.

“This is a young man who is caught in a drama that was totally accidental,” he said. “Already, he has been stigmatized as a murderer” by prosecutors.

If convicted of second-degree murder in Juvenile Court, as prosecutors want, he could be kept in California Youth Authority custody for nearly eight years, until he reaches age 25.

He would face a longer, mandatory sentence of 15 years to life in state prison if convicted in adult court.

On Monday, a defense attorney in another high-profile juvenile case questioned a prosecutors’ decision against seeking an adult prosecution of the boy. John E. Meyers represents 16-year-old William Huang of Rowland Heights--one of three 16-year-old boys charged in connection with a February shooting near Westlake High School in which three students were injured.

Meyers criticized prosecutors for filing the motion that led to his client being transferred to adult court, noting that he is not only younger than the boy accused of shooting Jacqueline but also charged with a lesser offense.

“In our case, nobody has any criminal history, as far as I know, and nobody had any intent to kill,” Meyers said.

But prosecutors on Monday stood by their decision against trying the boy who allegedly shot Jacqueline as an adult. They said, as they had earlier, that the boy apparently did not intend to kill Jacqueline and that he has never before had any trouble with the law.

Still, they acknowledged that it was unusual for them not to seek an adult prosecution against anyone who is at least 16 and charged with murder.

Witnesses have told authorities that the boy had been menacing people in the Las Casitas neighborhood where the shooting occurred for two days prior to the murder.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Donald C. Glynn, however, said the boy apparently was only trying to attract attention to himself by playing with the weapon.

“I believe it was a practical joke gone awry,” the prosecutor commented.

Glynn said he believed he could get a jury conviction if the case were to be tried in adult court.

“I think most people would be outraged with his conduct,” Glynn said.