Hearing Set For Teens

A court hearing is now set for two young teens in an alleged murder plot in Oaklyn, N.J. The hearing will determine if two teens will join Matt Lovett, 18, in being tried as adults. All three boys are accused of planning a town-wide killing spree.

The father of the accused 14-year-old declined comment as he entered the courthouse. His son, a 15-year-old and Lovett have been charged with carjacking and conspiracy to murder.

The future of the younger teens not only rests with their attorneys, it rests with Superior Court Judge Louis Hornstine. Hornstine must decide if they will be tried as juveniles or adults. If they are tried as juveniles and found guilty, the penalty is 10 years. If they are tried as adults and found guilty, the penalty is 40 years.

Hornstine set a hearing for arguments on the issue for August 26, but said he was willing to grant the defense lawyers more time if they needed it to line up expert witnesses to testify.

"These are boys. These are not men. My client just turned 15 last month. The New Jersey state law requires I prove my client can be rehabilitated by age 19 with the services available through the New Jersey juvenile system," said John Underwood, the lawyer for the 15-year-old boy.

Underwood said he would likely put psychiatric experts on the stand. He is also planning to interview someone who could talk about evidence that investigators are trying to find on the hard drives of computers taken from each of the boys' homes.

"Given the nature of these crimes, given the seriousness of them, these are crimes where rehabilitation isn't necessarily appropriate," said Vince Sarubbi, the Camden County prosecutor.

There are a lot of differences in public opinion.

"Somewhere along the line they have to be held accountable -- maybe not just them. Maybe the parents and maybe somebody else," said Bill Bunting, of Oaklyn, N.J.

"I have thoughts both ways. I mean, it's a shame because they're children, because they're both under 18. But then it's a shame what they might have been trying to do that would have killed innocent people, so it's hard to say," said Ilene Kimble, also of Oaklyn.

Lovett, who is being held in Camden County Jail on $1 million bail, is also accused of aggravated assault. The two boys have been in the county's juvenile detention center since they were arrested.

Without spelling out exact defense strategies, lawyers or parents of each of the boys -- all aspiring artists fascinated by science fiction and Japanese anime -- have emphasized different key points in the case.

Lovett's father, Ronald, said he believed his son and his friends were play acting -- not planning to kill. The father of the 14-year-old said there was a plan to kill, but that his son was intimidated into going along. Underwood said there was no plot, but also talked about how the three boys were picked on at school.

"These are children who were being bullied, and now they're fighting for their lives," Underwood said after Tuesday's court hearing.

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