Suspect in killing to remain locked up

The 13-year-old boy accused in the murder of Barnard student Tessa Majors (inset) will remain in juvenile detention, despite his lawyer’s insistence that he’s not a flight risk and he won’t be arrested again.

In a packed Family Court hearing Thursday, Judge Carol Goldstein praised the teen’s overall behavior in detention — despite an incident involving a video game — but ruled that she saw no reason to let him free on bail.

Goldstein was expected to rule on whether his videotaped statement to detectives would be admissible at trial, but that issue didn’t come up at the teen’s hearing Thursday.

The teen’s legal aid lawyer, Hannah Kaplan, argued that because of his age, he should only be remanded if there’s a risk he’ll be arrested again or fail to show up in court. The teen has no prior arrests and has never been on probation, she said. “The seriousness of the offense and the reliance on that is misguided,” she said. “It does not does not correlate at all to the risk or arrest or risk of failure to appear in court.” Assistant Corporation Counsel Rachel Glantz pointed to an incident of “negative behavior” in custody, where the teen had to be restrained and escorted to his room.

That incident, his lawyer said, amounted to heated words when a staffer tried to take away a video game.

The judge told the teen, “Keep up with your good work in terms of getting along in detention.”

A 14-year-old boy identified as the prime suspect in the Dec. 11 stabbing was questioned and then released hours later last Thursday, as investigators sought a warrant for his DNA, police sources said.