PORTLAND — The Oregon Supreme Court has ruled that a Washington County judge erred in 2011 when he allowed a 13-year-old boy to be tried as an adult for aggravated murder.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that the state high court’s decision Thursday reverses a January 2015 Court of Appeals ruling that upheld Judge Jim Fun’s decision.
Juan Carlos Negrete-Vasquez, who is now 20, was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of his role in the 2009 beating and stabbing of 18-year-old Eduardo Andrade-Alcantar at a Portland-area park.
The Supreme Court’s opinion says Fun didn’t take into account whether Negrete-Vasquz had “the adult-like capabilities” to “appreciate the significance and wrongfulness of his conduct.”
Fun declined to comment Thursday because the case will be sent back to him for further review.
