Katelyn+Johnson+4B



On Saturday, October 24th in 2009 a 15 year-old girl was charged with first degree murder of a 9 year-old central missouri girl who was found two days after she went missing on the way home from a friends house at about dinner time. This happened just west of Jefferson City. They were lead to the 15 year-old when they got a handwritten note Friday. The body of the 9 year-old was found very well hidden. The search party missed the body the first time searching, the second time the suspect lead them to the body. Her cell phone was found very close to the victims body but we don’t know if she made any calls before she died.

I could not find any information on the defendant's side of the story.

They haven't released many details about the case, because of the fact that the defendent is a minor. The only major detail is that they are prosecuting the teenage suspect as an adult on the charge of murder in the first degree.

The court case has not been setteled yet, but there will be a public court hearing on November 18th to decide whether or not the suspect will be tried as an adult.

This court decision to hold a public hearing is unfair to the defendent, because a public trial could drastically lower the chances for a fair ruling by the judge. "There's been a lot of speculation, but now we will have in giant headlines my client's name," Valentine,the defendent's lawyer, told the associated press "There is no way in the world that could possibly be in the best interest of this particular juvenile." If there are alot of false headlines, or news stories that tell the story not exactly the way it happened it could spread lots of bad press, and cause the jury to be swayed negatively towards the defendent. These articles are unfair also, because they don't tell you the defendents side of the story at all.

Reasources: Blank, C. (2009). 15-year-old suspect charged in death of st. martins girl. Retrieved from http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2009/10/24/15-year-old-charged-murder-central-missouri-girl/

Kotz, P. (2009). 15-year-old charged with elizabeth olten's murder. Retrieved from http://www.truecrimereport.com/2009/10/15-year-old_girl_charged_with.php

(Photographer). (2009). //Elizabeth olten// [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-missing-olten,0,3875972.story