St. Louis CofCC Blog

So says a state judge.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

The teen suspected of killing a city police officer should stand trial as an adult, a judge ruled Wednesday.

St. Louis Circuit Court Judge [*****] — in an order that publicly identified the suspect for the first time — ruled that Antonio Alexander Andrews, 15, is “beyond rehabilitation under the juvenile code.”

The ruling means that Andrews, who as a minor would have been eligible for release at 21 or younger, now faces the possibility of life in prison without parole.

He is accused in the shooting Aug. 15 of Officer Norvelle Brown — a rookie patrolman who was working alone near Sherman Park. Andrews faces first-degree murder charges in the case.

He wouldn’t have faced the death penalty even without the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2003 decision — Missouri law set a minimum age of 16 at the time of the murder for such punishment.

Citing the opinion of a juvenile officer, the ruling says Andrews is “sophisticated and streetwise.” He is not a gang member, according to the ruling, but “runs with the wrong crowd from the neighborhood and is influenced too much by friends.”

In January, when Andrews was 14, he shot himself in the thigh after receiving a gun from an older friend, the ruling says. When he was arrested seven months later, he tested positive for marijuana.

Shooting yourself in the leg doesn’t sound too “sophisticated and streetwise” to me.

Since his arrest, Andrews has been detained at the city’s juvenile detention center, where he has twice been written up for being verbally disruptive. But he did maintain a B average at Griscom, the school operated inside the youth jail.

Recall that he had an 0.57 GPA in regular school settings.

Now, the big question is this — Since SLPD Chief Joe Mokwa essentially handed Andrews’s defense attorneys their arguments wrapped up in a box, glittered wrapping paper and a big red bow, will this certification as an adult make a difference?