15-Year-Old Girl Ordered To Trial For Killing 14-Year-Old Boy
By Tony Hanson
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A 14-year-old boy is dead, and a 15-year-old girl is ordered to stand for trial on reduced charges in a case just full of tragedy for both teens and their families.
A judge has ordered the teen girl held on third degree and lesser charges, not first degree murder. (See Previous Story)
The confrontation happened in South Philadelphia in February.
A prosecution witness and friend of the victim has conceded they harassed the 15-year-old defendant and her girlfriend by throwing snowballs and ice balls at them.
She then threatened her brother was going to kill the boys. The witness says he and Azim Chaplin picked up sticks, but as Chaplin approached her she stabbed him.
Prosecutor Gwen Cujdik says, "All that time she knew she had a knife. So these kids came into something that was a surprise to them. It's the one stab wound that goes right into the heart. And that is the malice that makes it third degree murder."
But defense attorney David Desiderio says the defendant, a past victim of sexual assault and who carried the knife because of that, acted in self-defense after being pursued and assaulted for blocks.
