Youth may be tried as adult in abuse case
BOISE – The state’s highest court is deciding whether adult or juvenile court is the appropriate place for a boy who was 12 when he was accused of sexually assaulting and beating a 5-year-old girl.
If the boy is convicted, the decision could mean the difference between 180 days of detention and a sentence of life in prison.
“We don’t punish a 21-year-old the same way we punish a 12-year-old,” the boy’s attorney, Thomas Sullivan, told the Idaho Supreme Court on Monday. “Age is important.”
Trevor Reizenstein is 15 now. But he was 12 in January 2007, when he was accused of the attempted homicide, battery and forceable sexual penetration of a girl.
The difference between adult and juvenile court is stark, Sullivan said. Juveniles convicted of crimes are generally committed to the Department of Juvenile Correction for an indeterminate period – meaning that Juvenile Correction officials can release the youth when they deem it is appropriate to do so – but the underlying sentence that Reizenstein would face in juvenile court would be 180 days for each felony, Sullivan said. The boy could be held until he turns 21.
A potential adult court sentence is life in prison.
In January 2007, some teens riding their bicycles down an alley in Nampa encountered a boy, later identified as Reizenstein, and then saw a half-naked 5-year-old girl who appeared to be unconscious lying nearby, according to a brief filed by the Idaho attorney general’s office.
The boys called for help and held Reizenstein until police arrived and arrested him. A doctor found that the girl had suffered great bodily harm and had symptoms of oxygen deprivation consistent with pressure being applied to her chest or being strangled, according to the brief. The victim survived.
Reizenstein was charged with attempted homicide, battery and forceable sexual penetration.
Prosecutors asked a magistrate judge to send Reizenstein to adult court, citing a state law allowing minors to be tried as adults at the discretion of the juvenile court judge. The magistrate agreed, and the decision was upheld by 3rd District Judge Gordon Petrie in Canyon County.
But Sullivan appealed, and the trial has been put on hold until the Idaho Supreme Court makes its decision.
On Monday, Sullivan told the justices that the lower court abused its discretion and improperly weighed the evidence when deciding to try Reizenstein as an adult.
A Department of Juvenile Probation committee reviewed the case and recommended that Reizenstein be kept in juvenile court, but the judge disregarded that recommendation, Sullivan said.
Only one psychological evaluation has been performed on Reizenstein since his arrest, Sullivan said, and the doctor performing the evaluation found that Reizenstein functions mentally as a 9- or 10-year-old and may not be competent to assist his attorney in adult court. The doctor also found that Reizenstein needed long-term residential treatment.