Murder Suspect, 10, Will Stay in Adult Jail

Family 'not ready' for release of Tristen Kurilla
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 16, 2014 3:02 AM CDT
Updated Oct 16, 2014 7:00 AM CDT
Murder Suspect, 10, Will Stay in Adult Jail
Tristen Kurilla is seen in this photo aired on local news.   (NewsInWorld)

Tristen Kurilla, the Pennsylvania 10-year-old who confessed to killing a 90-year-old woman over the weekend, is still in an adult prison and for now, his family thinks that could be the best place for him. His attorney withdrew a bail request yesterday saying the "family just doesn't feel comfortable for numerous reasons," including concern for the family of Helen Novak, whom Tristen allegedly killed with a walking stick, reports WBRE. The lawyer also cited the family's worries over "the supervision, of work, of everything." The district attorney says the boy is not in the "general population. He is not in solitary confinement and he is not in isolation. He is in a cell which I believe is next to the infirmary where he can come and go from the cell to the infirmary." The nearest juvenile detention facility is 80 miles away.

The boy has been provided with coloring books and other forms of entertainment, and while he understands where he is, he's acting like a normal 10-year-old and talks about his prison outfit "being a Halloween costume," says his lawyer. Tristen has been charged as an adult with homicide, but his lawyer plans to have the case transferred to juvenile court, a move the chief counsel of the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia tells the AP is a "no-brainer." The fifth-grader is "a little boy," she says. "It's a horrible tragedy, but it's shocking that he suddenly turned into an adult because of conduct that he engaged in." She says he is among the youngest people ever charged with homicide in Pennsylvania. The youngest on record was 9 years old. (More Pennsylvania stories.)

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