Mom of slain Riverton girl says teen suspect should be tried as adult


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SALT LAKE CITY — Should a boy who was 14 at the time he allegedly killed his 15-year-old girlfriend stand trial for first-degree felony murder as an adult or should he be tried in juvenile court?

That's the question 3rd District Juvenile Judge Dane Nolan will decide early next week.

If the teenager, who is now 17, stays in the juvenile system and is convicted, he would be set free when he turns 21.

The victim's mother said she believes the boy deserves to be sent to the adult system, not just because he allegedly her beat her daughter, Anne Kasprzak, and dumped her lifeless body into the Jordan River in 2012, but also because he tried to cover up what he did.

"We strongly want him to be certified as an adult for a couple of different reasons. The first one is, he made a pretty adult decision. In the way that the medical examiner described the way she died, this wasn't a one time, accidental, 'I lost my temper,' this was a brutal attack. And that's a pretty adult decision to make," Veronica Kasprzak said.

"And the part that concerns me is he'll be 18 in two months. And if it stays in the juvenile court system, in three years he gets to walk away. Annie didn't get to walk away. She wasn't given that opportunity," she said.

"I think I might have felt differently if after it had happened if he had come forth and said, 'I really screwed up. I'm a kid, help me out, I need something.' But for him to evade and even now not take responsibility for what he's done … shows very little remorse," Kasprzak said.

Nolan on Wednesday decided that the teenager will stand trial for murder. He heard more arguments Thursday about whether that trial should be held in adult court. The Deseret News has chosen not to name the defendant at this time.

The defendant's father took the witness stand, giving his first public comments since his son's arrest in October.

He said his son left his mother's house in Grand Junction, Colorado, and moved in with him in Utah when he was 10. In March of 2012, he described his son as being a "typical 14-year-old boy." He enjoyed video games, hiking, fishing, playing football with neighborhood kids, and was not involved in gangs or exhibited behaviors of being cruel to others or being chronically angry, he said.


We strongly want him to be certified as an adult for a couple of different reasons. The first one is, he made a pretty adult decision. I mean, in the way that the medical examiner described the way she died, this wasn't a one time, accidental, 'I lost my temper,' this was a brutal attack. And that's a pretty adult decision to make.

–Veronica Kasprzak


The father also described his son as "extremely skinny for his height." He said his son at that time was about 5 feet 6 or 7 inches tall, but only weighed 75 to 90 pounds. An eyewitness earlier testified seeing someone on a bike leaning over the bridge at 12600 South near where Kasprzak's body was found. The person on the bridge appeared to be looking for something and was described as 5 feet 8 inches tall and well over 100 pounds.

During cross-examination, the father said he never saw any mental health issues or educational delays in his son's development.

Police took pictures of the defendant just days after Kasprzak's body was found for documentation. A few months later, with his attorney's permission, the defendant moved back to Grand Junction.

Medical experts and representatives from the Department of Corrections and the juvenile justice system were also called to the witness stand Thursday. Portions of the certification hearing, such as testimony about the boy's psychological evaluation, were closed to the public.

Robert Powell, a deputy warden at the Utah State Prison, testified about the facilities and programs available for juveniles sent to adult prison. Currently, there is only one inmate at the prison under the age of 18.

Powell said he did not know off hand how long the average person sent to prison for murder actually serves. He said he only knew of one case where a person serving a murder sentence was later paroled.

Prosecutors asked Powell to talk about education programs available for young offenders. He also testified that juveniles are placed in "restrictive" housing, away from the adult population. But under cross exemption, the defense pointed out that the restrictive unit is actually the maximum security portion of the prison where violent offenders and some sexual predators are held.

The judge spent extra time questioning Powell himself, asking about prison programs, the makeup of the prison population, how long a person sent to prison for a first-degree felony has to wait before he or she gets a parole hearing, among other things.

The defendant's mother is expected to take the witness stand Monday. Final arguments on the certification process could be delivered by Monday afternoon.

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Pat Reavy

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