Teen must face prosecution as adult, judge rules
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – The case against a Memphis teenager charged with killing his mother in a house fire must remain in adult court.
According to The Commercial Appeal (http://bit.ly/17q83Ig ), a judge told lawyers for 14-year-old Jonathan Ray he was not inclined to send the first-degree murder case back to Juvenile Court, nor was he allowed to under state law.
Ray – who has been identified by name in open court – was arrested April 5 after his family’s home burned, trapping his mother, Gwendolyn Wallace, upstairs. The 45-year-old woman was killed in the blaze.
Ray’s lawyers argued their client did not receive a meaningful hearing in Juvenile Court.
The youth is held without bond.
