LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — We're learning more on the legal process ahead of the eight teenagers arrested for the beating death of one of their Rancho High School classmates.
"All subjects arrested in this incident range in age from 13 to 17, all are juveniles and all were booked into Clark County Juvenile Hall on charges of murder," said Lt. Jason Johansson with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's Homicide Section.
Among the eight juveniles charged with open murder in the death of 17-year-old Jonathan Lewis, Jr., there is a difference in how they're treated by the legal system. That's because four of the eight youths are under the age of 16.
Since four of the suspects are 16 or older, when it comes to murder, they are automatically charged as adults in Nevada. While the other four teens are younger, that means they face a different legal process from the start.
"Juveniles who are less than 16 at the time of the murder have to go through a certification process, so they're booked into juvenile court and the juvenile judge holds a hearing to determine whether to send it to adult court or keep it down in juvenile court," former Clark County District Attorney David Roger explained.
Channel 13 has learned the hearing to decide the status of those four juveniles has been scheduled for next month.
PHOTOS: Two teen suspects still at large as police make arrests in beating death of Rancho HS student
It's not the first time this year that underage kids in Las Vegas have been accused in a high-profile murder case.
Last month, two teens were indicted and charged as adults after allegedly using a stolen car in a crime spree that included targeting and fatally running over a bicyclist.
Eve Hanan, a professor at UNLV's Boyd School of Law, says charging young people as adults is likely not the best move.
"Especially in murder cases, 13 and up can, in some instances, be tried as adults," Hanan said. "However, we have, at this point, decades now of brain science which shows that children's frontal lobes are simply not as developed as adults."
Roger says he understands there's debate on how to charge those under 18. But he also cautions that charges could eventually be added or altered.
"It could be second-degree murder; it could be manslaughter," he said.
It's also possible that some of the teens could be charged separately, depending on how their attorneys decide to proceed in their defense.
"In the end, we have to trust that the criminal justice system will deal with everybody appropriately," Roger said.
We do know that juveniles sentenced to adult prison for crimes in Nevada are housed in areas that are separate from the general population.
Channel 13 plans to follow this case closely and will provide any updates as we get them.
