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ST. PAUL: Mom, 14, charged with murder
BY HANNAH ALLAM
Pioneer Press
A 14-year-old St. Paul girl accused of strangling her newborn daughter last week and leaving the body in a shoebox was charged Monday with second-degree murder. She could land in adult court if a judge agrees to a prosecution request to remove her from juvenile proceedings.
Ramsey County prosecutors portray the girl as both victim and offender. Her 22-year-old boyfriend, a man who lived with her family for five years, was charged Friday with having sex with her since she was 12. With Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner now pushing the case toward adult court, the girl could soon face public scrutiny without the laws that have so far shielded her identity and details of the alleged crime.
Gaertner would not comment on the case, citing prickly legal issues of juvenile confidentiality. The girl made a brief appearance Monday before Ramsey County District Judge John B. Van de North. A hearing is scheduled for Nov. 4 on whether the girl should be certified as an adult. She is being held in a juvenile detention center.
"You seldom see a case where the perpetrator of an offense is also a victim under these circumstances," said Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom, who heads a national juvenile law committee. "It's an unusual case. And it's never an easy decision for a prosecutor to certify a child as an adult."
Sending a child to adult court, which brings longer sentences and harsher prison conditions, is typically more controversial for offenders under 16. Gaertner has successfully prosecuted at least two other adolescents as adults in murder cases.
Jerry Vang, 14 when he was arrested, was sentenced to life in prison in 2001 for killing a neighborhood rival and wounding the victim's brother in a drive-by shooting. In 1997, Joanna Rivera was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the fatal shooting of a Vietnam War veteran in a botched mugging on the West Side. Rivera, a runaway who later accused her stepfather of sexual abuse, and two accomplices were all 14 at the time of the murder.
The 14-year-old girl charged with killing her newborn is undoubtedly a victim, said Nancy Nelson, executive director of the Minnesota Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy, Prevention and Parenting. Nelson questioned whether the girl "should be held responsible for something she did out of complete desperation." She said pregnant adolescents are frequently victims of sexual abuse and are sometimes in denial about their pregnancies.
"The tragedy is that there was no adult in her life who noticed that there was something that had changed in this girl," Nelson said. "She didn't feel safe enough to reach out to anybody. The community failed her."
Paramedics went to the home at 1657 Barclay St. on a medical call about 6 p.m. Thursday and found the 14-year-old complaining of abdominal pain. Paramedics checked her vital signs and determined her condition was not life-threatening. The girl's mother agreed to take her to the hospital for further examination, police said.
The girl went to Regions Hospital in St. Paul, where a doctor determined she recently had given birth.
The girl then admitted killing her newborn daughter by tying a sock around her neck and placing her in a shoebox in her bedroom, police said.
St. Paul police and paramedics returned to the East Side home to look for the baby about 7 p.m. Thursday. They found the full-term baby dead inside the box in the bedroom. The Ramsey County medical examiner's office ruled the death a homicide by strangulation.
The girl's boyfriend, identified as Marvin Alex Alvizurez, also was arrested and charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct.
Do you think this girl is mainly a crime victim or is she an offender who should be tried in adult court?
ST. PAUL: Mom, 14, charged with murder
BY HANNAH ALLAM
Pioneer Press
A 14-year-old St. Paul girl accused of strangling her newborn daughter last week and leaving the body in a shoebox was charged Monday with second-degree murder. She could land in adult court if a judge agrees to a prosecution request to remove her from juvenile proceedings.
Ramsey County prosecutors portray the girl as both victim and offender. Her 22-year-old boyfriend, a man who lived with her family for five years, was charged Friday with having sex with her since she was 12. With Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner now pushing the case toward adult court, the girl could soon face public scrutiny without the laws that have so far shielded her identity and details of the alleged crime.
Gaertner would not comment on the case, citing prickly legal issues of juvenile confidentiality. The girl made a brief appearance Monday before Ramsey County District Judge John B. Van de North. A hearing is scheduled for Nov. 4 on whether the girl should be certified as an adult. She is being held in a juvenile detention center.
"You seldom see a case where the perpetrator of an offense is also a victim under these circumstances," said Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom, who heads a national juvenile law committee. "It's an unusual case. And it's never an easy decision for a prosecutor to certify a child as an adult."
Sending a child to adult court, which brings longer sentences and harsher prison conditions, is typically more controversial for offenders under 16. Gaertner has successfully prosecuted at least two other adolescents as adults in murder cases.
Jerry Vang, 14 when he was arrested, was sentenced to life in prison in 2001 for killing a neighborhood rival and wounding the victim's brother in a drive-by shooting. In 1997, Joanna Rivera was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the fatal shooting of a Vietnam War veteran in a botched mugging on the West Side. Rivera, a runaway who later accused her stepfather of sexual abuse, and two accomplices were all 14 at the time of the murder.
The 14-year-old girl charged with killing her newborn is undoubtedly a victim, said Nancy Nelson, executive director of the Minnesota Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy, Prevention and Parenting. Nelson questioned whether the girl "should be held responsible for something she did out of complete desperation." She said pregnant adolescents are frequently victims of sexual abuse and are sometimes in denial about their pregnancies.
"The tragedy is that there was no adult in her life who noticed that there was something that had changed in this girl," Nelson said. "She didn't feel safe enough to reach out to anybody. The community failed her."
Paramedics went to the home at 1657 Barclay St. on a medical call about 6 p.m. Thursday and found the 14-year-old complaining of abdominal pain. Paramedics checked her vital signs and determined her condition was not life-threatening. The girl's mother agreed to take her to the hospital for further examination, police said.
The girl went to Regions Hospital in St. Paul, where a doctor determined she recently had given birth.
The girl then admitted killing her newborn daughter by tying a sock around her neck and placing her in a shoebox in her bedroom, police said.
St. Paul police and paramedics returned to the East Side home to look for the baby about 7 p.m. Thursday. They found the full-term baby dead inside the box in the bedroom. The Ramsey County medical examiner's office ruled the death a homicide by strangulation.
The girl's boyfriend, identified as Marvin Alex Alvizurez, also was arrested and charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct.
Do you think this girl is mainly a crime victim or is she an offender who should be tried in adult court?
