- Weber County prosecutors seek to try a 15-year-old as an adult in a deadly Aug. 31 incident.
- He's one of five juveniles suspected in three fatal shooting in the county since the Aug. 31 incident.
- The flurry of deadly incidents involving juveniles in such a short time span is unusual, but charging them as adults isn't, says the county prosecutor.
OGDEN — Weber County prosecutors are hoping to try a 15-year-old suspected in a deadly shooting incident late last August in the rural western reaches of the county as an adult for murder.
He's one of five juveniles suspected in three separate shooting incidents in Weber County of late that have left three people dead between them.
"In this case we are seeking to certify the 15-year-old as an adult because of the egregious nature of the crime — shooting into a crowd of people, putting many lives at risk," Weber County prosecutor Christopher Allred said in an email to KSL.com.
KSL.com has chosen not to identify the 15-year-old at this time, as formal charges have not been filed.
Charging documents for Christian Ruiz, 17 — facing a count of murder in the Aug. 31 incident and five other charges — identify the 15-year-old as a co-defendant in the matter. Aside from Ruiz, Michael Robles Gaisbauer, 18, has been formally charged with murder in the incident last August, which occurred during a clandestine street racing competition.
Utah state law calls for 16- and 17-year-olds to be charged as adults in murder cases and gives prosecutors leeway to charge 14- and 15-year-olds suspected of murder as adults as well. But while 16- and 17-year-olds suspected of murder are to be automatically charged as adults, prosecutors must first get authorization from juvenile court authorities to try 14- and 15-year-olds as adults.
"For (the 15-year-old), there will be a certification hearing at which the judge will decide whether he may be tried as an adult. I don't know when that will happen, but it won't be right away," Allred said. Public court records don't identify an attorney for the boy.
He is one of five minors authorities suspect in connection with three deadly shooting incidents in Weber County — the Aug. 31 incident, the Oct. 7 shooting in Ogden of a Ben Lomond High School student, and the Oct. 18 shooting in Ogden of a 15-year-old girl.
The other suspects include Ruiz; Hezekiah Plummer, 16, charged as an adult in 2nd District Court with murder in the Oct. 18 incident; and Isaias Carranza, 16, charged in 2nd District Court as an adult with aggravated murder in the Oct. 7 incident. Ogden authorities announced Thursday that another juvenile, who they didn't name, had been detained in the Oct. 7 incident and was being held in a juvenile detention facility.
Such a flurry of juvenile suspects in murder cases is out of the ordinary in Weber County, according to Allred. Trying them as adults, though, isn't uncommon.
"First, it is unusual in Weber County to have this many juveniles in such a short time period, shooting and killing people. It is not unusual to charge them as adults," he said. "In fact, when a 16- or 17-year-old commits murder or aggravated murder, it must be filed directly in district court. In the case of a 14- or 15-year-old charged with murder, aggravated murder or attempt of either, we have some discretion in deciding whether to seek to certify the minor as an adult."
No death penalty for juveniles
In the Aug. 31 incident, an altercation between two people attending the street races prompted others on hand to fire weapons they had, according to authorities, including, allegedly, Ruiz, the 15-year-old and Gaisbauer, regarded an adult at 18.
"During the races, two females engaged in a fight. The fight was followed by rapid gunshots coming from multiple directions," reads a motion by prosecutors for pretrial detention of Ruiz, ultimately granted. Numerous vehicles were hit by bullets, the document reads, and three people were hit by bullets, one of them, Jesus Cuadras Garcia, 22, later died.
Charging papers in Ruiz's case say the 15-year-old was one of the people firing a weapon. The motion for Ruiz's pretrial detention, meanwhile, says many involved in the incident "are known to be gang-involved."
In the Oct. 7 incident, Carranza, while driving a car, fired on a car in front of him in which Mason Caballero, 16, was traveling, according to the charges. Caballero was hit by a bullet and died. Carranza, according to his charging papers, was affiliated with a gang.
In the Oct. 18 incident, Plummer allegedly shot and killed his girlfriend, Chanelle Alvarez, at her Ogden home, police have said.
While juveniles can be tried as adults in murder cases, they can't face the death penalty or life imprisonment without parole, according to state law. What's more, Allred maintains, trying juveniles as adults doesn't preclude the possibility of rehabilitation, if they're convicted.
"If the juvenile is convicted (either by direct file or certified), he will remain in the juvenile custody and facilities until age 25, and he will receive whatever programs or opportunities for rehab that exist in the juvenile system. He may then be transferred to an adult facility where he will continue to receive available treatment, programs, etc.," Allred said.
