Boys Go From Prison to Youth Facility

Two teenage brothers who pleaded guilty to killing their father have been transferred from prison to a juvenile detention center despite objections from the judge and prosecutor, officials said Monday.

Alex and Derek King, ages 13 and 14, were turned over Friday to the Department of Juvenile Justice at the request of state prison officials, according to Bill Bankhead, the department’s secretary.

He did not say where the boys were sent, but a lawyer for their mother said they had been separated.

Bankhead said the decision was based on the boys’ youth and his department’s programs for juvenile offenders, but he warned they could be sent back to adult prison if they broke department rules.

Derek admitted he fatally beat their father, Terry King, with an aluminum baseball bat Nov. 26, 2001, and Alex said he had urged his brother to do it. The boys said they then set their house on fire.

Assistant State Atty. David Rimmer and Circuit Judge Frank Bell objected to the Department of Corrections’ request for the move. Bell wrote to the Department of Juvenile Justice that both sides “should now be required to abide by what was presented in court.”

Normally, children are placed in juvenile detention centers only after being tried in juvenile court, but Derek and Alex were tried in adult court.

The boys were convicted but their second-degree murder convictions were thrown out. They then pleaded guilty to arson and third-degree murder in an unusual mediated settlement. Bell sentenced Derek to eight years and Alex to seven, both with credit for a year of time served.

Bankhead said he decided to accept the boys into the juvenile system because they would have been among the youngest inmates in adult prison. He also said the juvenile system will give them education and treatment more appropriate to their age.