A judge has postponed a hearing to decide whether a 15-year-old boy will be tried in adult court in the death of 10-year-old Kiaya Campbell.
A week-long hearing was scheduled to begin Oct. 30 in Adams County. A preliminary hearing during the same hearing will determine whether there is sufficient evidence to warrant a trial.
The skinny, fidgety teen, who appears to be much younger than 15, huddled close to his attorney and was silent. He was trembling slightly with his hands held behind his back. The boy has curly dark brown hair and wore a blue detention home shirt and green, tie-string pants.
Jessica Meza, his attorney, asked for a delay of four months to give her time to prepare for the hearing.
“Considering he is only 15 and is facing life in prison we need to be prepared,” Meza said. “This is an ongoing investigation. We need the testimony from various experts. It’s going to be a lengthy hearing.”
Magistrate Judge Priscilla Loew, who had excluded the media at a prior hearing, allowed reporters to remain in the court because there was no evidence presented at the hearing, said Assistant District Attorney Jess Redman.
The boy previously after deliberation and first-degree murder of a child under the age of 12 by someone in a position of trust. Following a hearing in juvenile court on June 14, Adams County District Attorney Dave Young said he would seek to prosecute the boy as an adult.
Young did not name the boy because he is a juvenile, but Loew has previously identified him as the son of Kiaya’s father’s girlfriend.
Thornton police still following tips surrounding Kiaya’s death have declined to provide any details on Young’s reasons for wanting to charge the teen as an adult.
He has been held in an Adams County juvenile detention facility.
the night of June 7 while walking with the boy on a shopping trip from home in the 12400 block of Forest Drive where her father lived with his girlfriend and her two sons. Following an Amber Alert and an intense search involving 23 rescue and law enforcement agencies, of the following day in a greenbelt area about 1½ miles from where her family reported she had disappeared.
The 15-year-old boy told police he ran and became separated from the girl when it began raining hard. Neighbors disputed that there was a rainstorm in the area that night.
