This case happened a few miles from home. This is one of the many links to the story.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapi...n_fatal_s.html
GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Looking every bit the child he is, 12-year-old Jamarion Lawhorn sat next to his mother as the charge of open murder was levied against him in a Kent County courtroom.
Lawhorn is accused of stabbing 9-year-old Michael Connor Verkerke to death on Monday, Aug 4, on the playground of a mobile home park in the 400 block of Bellewood Street SE, near 56th Street and Madison Avenue.
The child defendant entered the courtroom handcuffed, looking frightened and dressed in a navy blue sweat-suit embossed with “juvenile detention” in yellow letters. His mother rubbed his back and wiped away her tears as juvenile court referee Marie Kessler arraigned Lawhorn on a charge of open murder.
Attorney Charles Boekeloo entered a plea of “not guilty” on behalf of his client and informed the court that he would be seeking a mental health evaluation to determine if the defendant is competent to stand trial.
Boekeloo did confirm that he believed his client understood the charges against him.
Under the terms of juvenile law, Lawhorn can be charged as an adult and then tried in juvenile court.
If he is found guilty, he could receive a blended sentence that could confine him in a juvenile facility until he is 21 and then a judge could determine if he should then be sentenced again as an adult.
The sentence could be as much as life in prison, but because of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, he could not face a mandatory life in prison sentence without the possibility of parole.
Family members of the defendant were present for the hearing, but did not wish to comment. Boekeloo also declined comment.
Assistant Kent County Prosecutor Laura Clifton said she believes this is the youngest defendant in Kent County charged with open murder.
In 2010, 13-year-old Keishawn Mann pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the shooting death of his mother’s boyfriend.
Related: Just 13 when he killed mom's boyfriend in 2010, Keishawn Mann doing well in detention
Clifton agreed that the defendant looks younger than 12.
“He is tiny,” the prosecutor said.
The 9-year-old victim had been on the playground with two other children, ages 9 and 7, when he was approached by the 12-year-old suspect. There does not appear to have been any kind of argument or confrontation between the two, Kentwood Police said.
Lawhorn alleged pulled out a knife buried in playground sand and critically wounded the injured boy, who ran back to his home and collapsed on a porch.The child victim would die a few hours later at an area hospital.
Lawhorn allegedly left the playground after the assault and approached a man at a home nearby to call 911. Witnesses said the boy presented his wrists to be cuffed when police arrived and made statements about taking pills and wishing for his life to be over.
A psychiatric exam could mean a delay in a probable cause hearing scheduled for Aug. 13 in Kent County Family Court.
Lawhorn remains in the Kent County Juvenile Detention Center, held without bond.