Student May Be Tried as Adult in Attacks

An Antelope Valley High student accused of attempting to kill one teacher and trying to rape another could stand trial as an adult.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Alan Yochelson said Wednesday a May 12 hearing will determine if the case of the 15-year-old boy, who has been detained at Sylmar Juvenile Hall since his March 27 arrest, will go before an adult court.

“We did not file in adult court originally because the case did not qualify” because the suspect is only 15 and the charges did not fit within the range of offenses included in state Proposition 21, Yochelson said. “We have [since] filed a petition asking for him to be tried as an adult after considering five criteria, including the seriousness of the offense and the minor’s amenability to rehabilitation.”

The district attorney’s office also took into consideration the student’s lack of a criminal record and the sophistication of the alleged crimes, Yochelson said. If convicted, the boy, who was not identified because of his age, could face a maximum of nine years in prison for attempted murder and six years for assault with the intent to commit rape.

Investigators allege that after school on March 27, the student struck a female teacher on the head with a book and choked her, three days after he allegedly groped and tried to suffocate another teacher.

The student, Yochelson said, is a month away from his 16th birthday. Under Proposition 21, passed in March, district attorneys have the discretion to prosecute youths suspected of certain violent crimes as adults without a court hearing.

“Now he’s got a chance of convincing a judge not to try him as an adult,” Yochelson said. “If he had committed the crime a month earlier, Prop. 21 would not have been in effect and this would have stayed in Juvenile Court.”