Serious charge such as murder could mean trying child as adult

Although a state prosecutor association keeps no statistics on the number of South Dakota juveniles prosecuted as adults, the group’s executive director said teens involved in homicide cases often stand trial as adults.

“It has been my experience, if it involves a serious charge such as murder, the person will be charged as an adult,” said Charles Schroyer, executive director of the South Dakota State’s Attorney Association.

Three weeks after a Mitchell girl was found dead in the trunk of a car, prosecutors are considering whether to try a second suspect as an adult.

Alexander Salgado, 20, faces three felony charges in the Nov. 10 death of Jasmine Guevara. In addition, a 15-year-old girl known only as M.D. has been arrested.

Hanson County State’s Attorney Jim Davies said last week if the evidence shows that M.D. should be tried as an adult, he will request a hearing before a judge to transfer the case to adult court. The hearing would occur in juvenile court.

Davies said this week he cannot estimate how long the process will take because he is still waiting on final reports from investigators. Timing also is dependent on the schedules of attorneys and Judge Sean O’Brien.

Justice can be a little more complicated when a suspect involved is a juvenile, as shown in the Guevara case.

Children younger than 18 who break laws have a different set of rules that apply to them when it comes to handling their cases.

Thousands of juveniles are charged with felonies and misdemeanors in cases that stay in the juvenile court system, Schroyer said.

In those cases, they remain anonymous and are placed at juvenile facilities.

In some cases, they receive probation and are assigned to a supervised work program or their parent’s custody.

But serious charges could warrant prosecuting the case in adult court, where the juvenile faces incarceration in a prison or jail instead of a juvenile facility, or lesser punishment.

State law allows prosecutors to charge felonies against 16-and 17-year-olds as adults based on various factors, including whether the alleged offense was committed in an aggressive, violent, premeditated or willful manner; whether the offense was against people or property; the juvenile’s record and the seriousness of the alleged felony to the community, among others.

For children 15 and younger, even serious felony cases always begin in juvenile court and the burden is placed upon the prosecutor to take the steps to move the case to adult court.

A judge makes the final determination.

Chris Hutton, University of South Dakota law professor, said age considerations vary based on a youth’s background.

“The closer a person is to the age of 16, the more responsible you think the person is. Whereas if the person is closer to 13 or 14, you might not think so,” Hutton said.

Prosecutors also consider the crime itself, how it was committed and the juvenile’s record and background, Hutton said. Background checks may reveal psychological problems.

“They want to see whether a young person was minimally involved or maybe was a ringleader,” Hutton said.

Other factors to consider in this decision involve the victim’s family’s wishes and any deficiencies — such as a learning deficiency — that may plague the child, Schroyer said.

According to court documents, it is alleged that M.D. was jealous of Guevara because she suspected a relationship between Guevara and Salgado. Police reports indicate Guevara was stabbed; her body was found in the trunk of a car that had been set afire on a rural road in Hanson County, near Mitchell.

During his initial court appearance, Salgado asked the judge, “Am I the only one being charged with this? Because there was two of us.”

Whereas it’s unknown whether M.D. will be tried as an adult in the Guevara case, it has happened before in Mitchell. In 1998, Ryan Vanden Hoek of Corsica kidnapped and raped a female employee of a Mitchell book store. He was 16.

If a case remains in juvenile court, then the prosecutor will proceed with an adjudicatory hearing that determines whether the juvenile committed the crime, Schroyer said. If a judge finds the child did so, then he or she is deemed a juvenile delinquent. The sentence that a juvenile offender receives is determined at a disposition hearing.

“You treat young people differently than adults,” Schroyer said. “They still are of a formulative mind. They do not understand the consequences of what they have done.”

Davison County prosecutors rarely request that juvenile cases be transferred to adult court, State’s Attorney Pat Smith said.

“I’m thankful that our juveniles do not commit the crimes that warrant transferring them to adult court,” he said.

Tags: courts and crimes, jasmine guevara, alexander salgado, news, local, crime