NEW YORK _ The case against a 13-year-old boy who admitted his role in the stabbing death of a Barnard College student will move forward, a judge ruled Tuesday.
"The court finds that there was reasonable cause to believe that the crime of felony murder was committed and that the respondent committed that crime," Manhattan Family Court Judge Carol Goldstein said during a probable cause hearing.
Police said the boy told authorities he was involved in mugging freshman Tessa Majors, 18, last week but said he did not plunge the knife into her body as she descended the steps of Morningside Park in Harlem.
But Goldstein said the boy's own admissions and his proximity to the crime make him responsible. The boy had also admitted that he picked up the knife when it fell to the ground and gave it back to one of his accomplices.
The handcuffed teen suspect appeared in court with an aunt and uncle, who said they are his legal guardians. He is being represented by the Legal Aid Society, which cautioned against a rush to judgment.
"We are absolutely troubled by the fact that our client was questioned and interrogated by police without an attorney present," the boy's lawyers said in a statement. "We must ensure that our client's constitutional rights are not violated."
The random murder of the promising student from Charlottesville, Va., who played in a band with her high school buddies, put the college campus and neighboring Harlem community on edge. A responding officer testified about finding the student face down, bleeding and struggling to breathe.
According to investigators, the suspect said two other middle school classmates joined in the attack, including one who disappeared while on his way with a relative to talk to cops.
Officials said the teen bolted from a car as a relative drove him Monday to an appointment with investigators.
Cops said he has not been located. Cops have also not found the third teen believed to have been involved in the murder.
A detective said the suspect told him that Majors was jogging down a set of steps in the park on West 116th Street near Morningside Drive shortly before 7 p.m. when she was attacked.
The boy said he saw feathers fly from the student's jacket after another teen stabbed the victim, according to the detective.
She bravely tried to fight off her attackers and even bit one of them on the finger, the detective said
Majors staggered back up the steps to a Columbia security guard booth, but the guard was out doing his rounds, sources told the Daily News. When he returned, he found the collapsed teen and called 911. A hat, a butterfly knife and an uncharged cell phone were found near her body.
According to Detective Wilfredo Acevedo of the Manhattan North homicide squad, a camera on top of the security booth on Morningside Drive and 116th Street captured "a little scuffle at the bottom of the steps."
But the suspect's attorney, Hannah Kaplan, pointed out that the video does not show the boy taking anything from Majors or stabbing her.
