OGDEN — A judge rejected a motion Thursday to send the case of a 16-year-old accused of murdering two people by intentionally crashing her car into them to the juvenile court system.

Second District Judge Brent West did not hesitate to hand down his decision following arguments Thursday, saying the Utah Legislature adequately assessed youth brain development and accountability when a law requiring murder charges for older teens be adjudicated in adult court was crafted.

Under Utah statute, murder charges for juveniles who are 16 or 17 years old are directly filed into district court as if they were adults. Murder charges against a juvenile who is 15 years old or younger must be filed in juvenile court. A juvenile judge can then determine whether to certify the juvenile as an adult if prosecutors want to move the case to the adult system.

"I don't think it's unconstitutional," West said of the statute. "I'm also of the opinion I couldn't send this case to juvenile court if I wanted to."

Marilee Patricia Gardner, 16, is charged as an adult with two counts of murder, a first-degree felony. If convicted, Gardner faces a potential sentence of 15 years to life in prison for each charge.

Tara Isaacson, one of Gardner's attorneys, said following the hearing that they will now decide whether to seek an interlocutory appeal in the case.

Drawing examples from other youth cases overturned in recent years by the U.S. Supreme Court, Isaacson argued that juveniles are less mature, more reckless, have less understanding of consequences and are more influenced by others than adults are.

Isaacson called Utah's charging statute "arbitrary."

"If Ms. Gardner had been 15 years and 11 months, there would have been a whole different set of rules. But as soon as you hit that magic age of 16, suddenly you're catapulted into the adult system with no analysis," Isaacson said.

Related:

Teen charged as adult after 'suicidal' crash that killed 2

A Layton teenager was traveling nearly 100 mph and attempting to commit suicide when she purposely slammed into the back of another vehicle, killing two strangers, police say.

But the judge said many laws are arbitrary. A day before a person turns 21, they cannot legally drink alcohol. A day before someone turns 18, they aren't legally allowed to smoke.

Branden Miles, chief criminal deputy with the Weber County Attorney's Office, argued that Gardner's case and others like it must be kept in adult court. Otherwise, he said, the oldest juvenile defendants accused of the most serious crimes would be the ones facing some of the shortest sentences in the youth system. The juvenile system only has jurisdiction over youth until they turn 21.

"This was no accident, this was a person acting with a depraved indifference to the value of human life," Miles said of Gardner.

Miles argued that Gardner's age, maturity and development can be considered at sentencing, should the case reach that point.

Police say Gardner stole a Chevy Tahoe from her parents' home in Layton on June 29. She later told officers she had been on her way to meet a 17-year-old friend in Roy and was planning on "purchasing drugs, taking the drugs, and then crashing her mother's car with both of them inside in an attempt to kill themselves," charging documents state.

She was fleeing from an officer who tried to pull her over when she slammed into the back of another car while going almost 100 mph, killing the occupants of the other vehicle, 20-year-old Maddison Haan of West Point and 19-year-old Tyler Christianson of Ogden. The crash occurred about 1:10 a.m. on June 30 in Roy near the intersection of 3500 West and 6000 South.

Gardner is also charged with failing to stop at the command of an officer and failure to remain at the scene of an accident involving death, third-degree felonies.

Isaacson noted that Gardiner had no history in juvenile court prior to the crash. Charges indicate the teen had been suicidal in the past, had a history of running away from home and was hospitalized for treatment shortly before the incident.

A scheduling hearing is for Oct. 19.

If someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, there are resources to help. Call the UNI Crisis Line at 801-587-3000, the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, or visit suicidepreventionlifeline.org.

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