Judge rules two teen suspects in robbery to face trial as adults

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Herb Wright on Tuesday ordered two teenage armed-robbery suspects to stand trial as adults, largely because the state’s juvenile-justice system does not have adequate resources to provide them with the rehabilitative programs they and their families need.

“The court is concerned with the sufficiency of the resources available to the juvenile [court] division and finds that the programs in their current form would fail when applied to the circumstances of this case,” the judge’s ruling states.

Charged as adults by prosecutors, Keith Lamont Harris, 16, and Davin Terrell Allen, 17, had petitioned Wright to transfer their aggravated-robbery and theft charges to juvenile court. They can appeal the judge’s ruling.

The teens are accused of targeting Hispanic victims in Little Rock in July in the belief that Hispanics are more likely to carry cash and less likely to call police. Their lawyers argued at a hearing last week that the teens had the potential to be redeemed if they and their families could get help available though the juvenile-justice system, which focuses on rehabilitation over punishment.

Both teens and their families could use state assistance, but the juvenile system has not been given what it needs to help them, Wright stated in his ruling. That absence means that there’s little chance they can be rehabilitated before they turn 21, which is the standard required by law, he wrote.

Even taking into consideration scientific evidence that shows children accused of crimes should be treated differently from adults because their brain development makes them more amenable to rehabilitation, without some possibility that the teens can be helped through juvenile court, the protection of society mandates that they be prosecuted as adults, the judge wrote.

“This court hopes that all juvenile offenders may be rehabilitated within the system, but unless that system is provided with better resources, this will not happen.

“The court has weighed the efficacy of these programs and services against the legitimate and necessary concerns about the protection of society from violent offenders, as required by statute,” the judge wrote.

“As is so often the situation with juvenile transfers, this court’s decision comes down to balancing the seriousness of the offense and whether the protection of society requires the case be kept in the [adult court].”

Wright issued his findings in separate rulings for the teens, but he found they both had a lot in common with each other and with other youths charged as adults that have stood before him.

Both are from poor home environments where they are being raised by single mothers doing the best they can, his ruling stated. Those women cannot provide the teens with the supervision they need and hold down jobs necessary to support their families, he wrote.

The evidence shows that Harris and Allen have been engaged in dangerous and violent behavior, he wrote. But there’s also evidence that both also are acting like normal teenagers, his ruling states.

They are trying to fit in with their peers and make friends by doing things each teen believes will bring him the attention he desires, according to the judge’s findings.

“This does not excuse his conduct in this matter, but the court wishes to point out that if we fail to attempt to examine and understand the circumstances of this behavior, society will continue to suffer the consequences of this problem,” the rulings state.

“Pointing a firearm at someone and robbing them of both their property and sense of security is shocking and unacceptable behavior for a child or an adult.”