Unusual ruling in horrific attack on boy expected today
Source: Houston Chronicle
Unusual ruling in horrific attack on boy expected today
By Cindy Horswell | March 5, 2014 | Updated: March 6, 2014 12:09am
Following three days of testimony, Judge Kathleen Hamilton says she will decide Thursday whether Donald Collins will be tried as an adult for allegedly burning a Splendora boy with gasoline 15 years ago.
Collins, now 28, was a teenager in 1998 when his 8-year-old neighbor, Robbie Middleton, was doused with gasoline, tied to a tree and set on fire. Middleton, who was severely disfigured in the assault, survived but died in 2011 from cancer that a medical examiner said was caused by his burns. His death was ruled a homicide.
Showing little emotion, Collins was the last to take the stand Wednesday. He told Hamilton that on the advice of his attorney he would not talk about the case.
Montgomery County prosecutors are asking Hamilton to transfer Collins' case to an adult court based on new evidence.
Collins' attorney, Tay Bond, questions the constitutionality of moving the case from a juvenile court, saying the law in effect at the time did not allow Collins to be certified as an adult. When Middleton was attacked, juveniles had to be 14 to be certified as an adult in Texas. Collins was 13.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/neighborhood/woodlands/crime-courts/article/Unusual-ruling-in-horrific-attack-on-boy-expected-5290568.php?cmpid=hpbn
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