Teen accused in stabbings transferred to juvenile court

NORRISTOWN >> A Lansdale teenager originally charged as an adult for allegedly stabbing and seriously injuring his two siblings during a knife attack on a Hatfield Township playground has seen his case transferred to juvenile court.

“There was an agreement between the district attorney’s office and the defense to move the case to the juvenile system so that he could receive treatment as opposed to being in the adult system. There was a joint agreement, it was an agreement between the parties,” defense lawyer Michael Drossner

confirmed Monday, speaking on behalf of Nathan Serrano, 15. “All parties recognized that this is a case that needed to focus on the rehabilitation and treatment of a juvenile.”

Based on the agreement, a judge signed an order decertifying Serrano’s case to juvenile court.

Serrano, of the 1100 block of Elm Avenue, was charged with attempted homicide, aggravated and simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, possessing an instrument of crime and harassment in connection with the Feb. 22 attack on a playground at the rear of Oak Park Elementary School in Hatfield Township.

Police and Montgomery County prosecutors originally charged Serrano as an adult, relying on state laws that allow certain juveniles to face adult charges if they are accused of committing violent crimes with a weapon. If Serrano was convicted in adult court of attempted homicide or aggravated assault, he could have faced a possible maximum sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison.

However, potential punishments are less harsh in juvenile court, and the focus is more on rehabilitation and treatment. Typically, defense lawyers have to establish that transferring the case will serve the public interest, that the juvenile is in need of treatment and rehabilitative programs and that the juvenile is amenable to treatment under the juvenile court system.

Once a case is transferred to juvenile court and if the charges are proven, an offender can be kept under court supervision until they are 21.

Juvenile court cases are handled differently than adult criminal cases. In juvenile court, there are no juries, and all cases are handled by a judge. While adult court proceedings focus more on punishment, in juvenile court the focus is on rehabilitation.

In juvenile court, defendants are never referred to as “guilty” but are considered “adjudicated delinquent” if the charges are proven. Additionally, juvenile courts aren’t bound by the same sentencing guidelines used in criminal courts.

Punishments in juvenile court can include placement in a juvenile detention facility, treatment programs, a rehabilitation facility or house arrest.

Serrano has been housed at the Montgomery County Youth Center while awaiting court action.

“He’s responded well to treatment at the youth center, and even though he misses his family, he’s doing well,” Drossner said.

According to court documents, an investigation began about 5:20 p.m. Feb. 22 when Hatfield Township police responded to the school property at 500 Squirrel Lane for a reported stabbing after a woman called 911 and reported, “My son stabbed my other son and my daughter. Please help me now,” according to a criminal complaint filed by Hatfield Township Detective Sgt. Richard Hoffner.

The woman further advised, “My son is schizophrenic. He stabbed my other two kids and I can’t find my daughter and my son is full of blood sitting in the snow. I am in the back of the school,” according to court papers.

Arriving officers found the woman behind the school with her 13-yearold son who was lying on his back with a black coat draped over him, and he was “visibly injured and going in and out of consciousness,” Hoffner alleged. The woman’s 9-year-old daughter was sitting on the ground bleeding from a head wound.

As officers rendered aid to the 13-year-old boy, they saw he had stab wounds to both hands, a large open laceration to his face near his mouth and a stab wound to his chest below his throat, according to the criminal complaint.

Both victims were transported by ambulance to Lehigh Valley Hospital – Cedar Crest for further medical treatment.

Police obtained video surveillance footage that captured the attack as all three siblings were at the playground.

Serrano was seen chasing his brother from the playground toward the school building and the younger boy fell over a snow embankment and wound up lying on his back in the snow.

“Nathan Serrano stood over (the victim) and repeatedly stabbed him with the knife he was holding in his right hand,” Hoffner alleged, adding Serrano also slashed the younger boy in the face.

Serrano then allegedly grabbed his 9-year-old sister from behind and appeared to try and cut her throat with the knife. As the girl ran away, Serrano chased her, pushed her down to the sidewalk and then “appeared to stab her repeatedly with the knife,” Hoffner alleged, referring to the depictions contained in the video surveillance.

After the girl got up and ran away, Serrano threw the knife away, and investigators later recovered the knife in the snow in the vicinity of where the attack occurred.

“After attacking his brother and sister, Nathan Serrano appears to be using his cellular telephone as he walks around his injured siblings prior to running off towards Oak Park Road. Nathan Serrano was later located at a nearby residence and taken into custody without incident,” Hoffner wrote in the arrest affidavit.

According to authorities, the 13-year-old boy underwent surgery after suffering 15 stab wounds and lacerations to his back, right shoulder, hands, sternum, head and face. The 9-yearold girl was treated for lacerations to the top of her scalp, and she received sutures and was released from the hospital, according to court papers.