Jan. 28--By pleading guilty Tuesday to the murder of her 11-year-old sister, a Mundelein teenager will be allowed to remain in the juvenile system with "intensive mental health services" -- a deal that would not have been an option under Illinois law had she been a few months older.
The girl, who was 14 when she was accused just over a year ago of killing her sister Dora Betancourt with dozens of stab wounds, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, tearfully telling a Lake County judge: "I am truly sorry."
She confessed to stabbing her sister with a kitchen knife after an argument over chores, according to prior testimony.
The girl will be formally sentenced in March, but prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed to a deal that will have her remain in a juvenile facility until her 21st birthday. After five years, however, her lawyers will be allowed to request her parole.
She is to receive psychotherapy and other mental health treatment while in custody, Lake County State's Attorney Michael Nerheim said. Mental health experts for the defense and prosecution agreed that, if she receives such services, she should pose no threat to the community upon her release.
"One of the factors we looked at was the availability of treatment," Nerheim said after the hearing. "The main difference (from adult prison) is there is a lot more structured treatment that she will have to get."
The outcome would have been far different if the teen was 15 at the time of the murder. Under Illinois law, juveniles 15 and older are automatically handled in adult court for several felony offenses, first-degree murder chief among them.
Many juvenile justice experts, advocates and lawmakers have called for an end to the law, saying it has failed to enhance public safety and does not take into consideration a growing body of scientific research indicating the brains of teens are less developed than those of adults. Supporters of a change in the law say a judge should have discretion to decide if older teen defendants should be tried in juvenile or adult court, based on factors like background and potential for rehabilitation.
"Kids are different than adults," said Herschella Conyers, a law professor at the University of Chicago who co-directs its Criminal and Juvenile Justice Project. "They are not little adults. They are children. That term for a lot of us is coming to have significant legal implications for how we punish and how we treat them."
Conyers, who commended the way authorities handled the Mundelein case, said she believed that with the proper treatment, the teen will come "to understand the serious, grave harm that she's done."
Had the girl been convicted in adult court and "warehoused" in prison, "her mother would have lost both her children," Conyers said.
Citing the law's disproportionate effect on children of color and higher recidivism rates for minors who are prosecuted as adults, state Rep. Elaine Nekritz, D-Northbrook, is pushing for legislation that would eliminate automatic transfers of juveniles to adult court.
"The opportunity for rehabilitation is much more significant for juveniles, so I feel like we should be giving them every opportunity in a way that will help them turn their lives around," she said.
If passed, the bill would be in line with last year's Illinois Supreme Court ruling that ordered new sentencing hearings for about 100 inmates serving mandatory life sentences for murders they committed as juveniles.
That, coupled with a previous U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found that mandatory life sentences violated the ban on cruel and unusual punishment, took into account research suggesting teens are more likely to act impulsively, succumb to peer pressure and disregard the consequences of their actions.
The Mundelein girl, who has not been named because she was charged as a minor, initially told police that an intruder killed her sister. She later confessed when her story didn't add up, prosecutors have said. The teen told officials that she attacked her sister in bed out of anger over an argument the prior evening about Dora being ungrateful for her sister's help with homework and household chores.
The teen has been held in a juvenile detention center since the murder. Family members have been present at her court hearings in support of the girl, whom they described as a prolific reader.
Nerheim had previously weighed whether to try to her in adult court, where a murder conviction could have yielded at least 20 years in prison.
At Tuesday's hearing, Judge Valerie Boettle Ceckowski asked the girl a series of questions to establish if she understood the plea, to which the girl answered, "Yes, Your Honor."
"I don't want you to answer yes just because you think it's what we want to hear," the judge said. "This is very serious."
Nerheim then read a summary of what occurred the day of Dora's death on Jan. 21, 2014. The teen and her mother cried as Nerheim described how paramedics discovered Dora's body and found no heartbeat.
For a teen in need of mental health services, those offered in the juvenile system are more age-appropriate, said Marc Atkins, who leads the Institute for Juvenile Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
"We just don't want to give up on youth," Atkins said. "It's not as if they're being rewarded for their behavior in a juvenile facility. It's more that their needs can be better met in a juvenile facility rather than an adult facility."
lblack@tribpub.com
deldeib@tribpub.com
