COLUMBIA — A 15-year-old boy suspected of shooting another juvenile earlier this week in Columbia appeared over video from the Robert L. Perry Juvenile Justice Center on Friday afternoon in a Boone County courtroom.
The hearing follows a shooting on Canaveral Drive on Tuesday that police said left another juvenile in critical condition.
The courtroom was silent Friday afternoon, with people in attendance only speaking if Judge Brouck Jacobs spoke directly to them.
However, that silence ended as two rows of women present in the courtroom erupted with applause and cheers when the juvenile officer requested an investigation for adult certification.
Adult certification requests are made with the intent to potentially try juveniles at an adult level. That investigation could eventually lead to a certification hearing, where a judge would decide whether the case should proceed in juvenile or adult court.
Jacobs ruled Friday that the 15-year-old will remain at the Juvenile Justice Center in secure detention. His parents were present in the courtroom along with his attorney, Daniel Feldman, district defender at Children's Defense Team in Columbia.
The status hearing was reset for Sept. 9 at the juvenile's mother's request as she seeks private counsel for her son.
The certification request comes as Missouri Senate Bill 888 goes into effect, changing how prosecutors can handle juvenile cases.
The bill modifies provisions relating to the criminal and juvenile justice system. SB 888 provides prosecutors with wider access to juvenile records and allows prosecuting attorneys to request certification hearings to charge juveniles as adults.
"Any case involving the use of a deadly weapon would automatically be considered for certification," Boone County Prosecuting Attorney Roger Johnson told KOMU 8 News.
A gun, Johnson said, is considered a deadly weapon. This means there is a chance this juvenile could be tried as an adult once the juvenile office completes its investigation.
Johnson described a hypothetical that mirrors the starting point for the certification process that took place in court Friday afternoon.
"If there was a case where a 14-year-old was involved in a shooting, and the police were able to make an arrest, and there was enough information for the juvenile office to go forward, that would be a case that would be presented to the judge to consider whether it should be handled in juvenile or adult court," Johnson said.
New Missouri law could affect east Columbia juvenile shooting case