Teen indicted in slaying held with no bail in youth services
The lawyer for a Somerville teen charged with fatally shooting Malden youth Tenzin Kunkhyen in the chest has agreed to have his client held without bail until early next year.
In a rare public proceeding in juvenile court, attorney Kevin Reddington consented to keeping Jonathan T. Perry, 17, locked up at the state’s North East Regional Youth Services Center in Middleton pending a Feb. 16 bail review hearing.
Assistant Middlesex District Attorney Ceara Mahoney had moved to hold Perry as a danger to society.
Cambridge Juvenile Court Judge Kenneth J. King granted the request after Reddington said he would not argue against the prosecutor.
King also scheduled a Dec. 13 pre-trial hearing.
Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan announced Tuesday Perry had been indicted as a youthful offender and charged with manslaughter and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for allegedly killing Kunkhyen, 16, with a single gunshot to the chest Aug. 29 inside a home on Farragut Avenue in Somerville. The court entered a plea of not being a youthful offender — the equivalent of a not guilty plea — on Perry’s behalf. The slender teen, his sandy blond hair pulled back in a bun, appeared shell-shocked as his family sat behind him. They later left with Reddington without commenting.
Youthful offender cases involving major crimes are public in Bay State juvenile courts.
Perry went on the run, prosecutors allege, but was arrested in Arlington Sept. 5.