Plea deal considered in teen’s murder-arson case
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – Prosecutors are mulling a plea agreement for a Memphis-area teenager charged as an adult with setting a house fire that killed his mother.
Shelby County Criminal Court Judge James Lammey scheduled a June 5 hearing Wednesday in the case of 15-year-old Jonathan Ray.
Ray faces charges of first-degree murder and murder while committing aggravated arson in the April 2013 fire that killed his mother, Gwendolyn Wallace.
Ray was 14 when he was arrested after the blaze. His case was transferred from juvenile court to adult court in June.
Defense attorney Robert Gowen told Lammey during a Wednesday hearing that prosecutors have been given a settlement offer and are thinking it over. Under the proposed deal, Ray would be sentenced to 20 years in prison in return for a guilty plea.
