While researching information for a follow-up story to that 81-year-old George Baker III’s beating death in Lynchburg I learned something new:

One of the teen suspects in the murder case (a 13-year-old) cannot be tried as an adult.

State law mandates any juvenile under the age of 14 cannot be tried as an adult in a murder case.

Prosecutors however plan to try the two 16-year-old suspects in the case as adults.

How this will work is the two 16-year-olds will face a preliminary evidence hearing in Lynchburg Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court sometime in the next one to two months, maybe longer (a hearing is already set in this case for September 28th but that could get continued).

If the judge finds enough of what lawyers call “probable cause” in the case, then the two 16-year-olds will head straight to Circuit Court to be tried for murder as adults—- think of it as a grand jury proceeding on in open court.

Probable cause basically means that prosecutors have put their case together in a strong enough manner that the judge at the lower court level believes it has the merits to move on to a formal jury trial. 

It does not prove guilt or innocence, in fact the defendant in the case has the right to “waive” the hearing.

The 13 year old will likely face a similar hearing but if convicted later on would spend time in the juvenile justice corrections system, probably until the age of 21 when he would be released.

The two 16 year olds on the other could face up to life in prison depending on the outcome of that preliminary hearing and which way the prosecutors and defense team want to play this thing out.

Plea deals could be offered from both sides but might not be accepted.

But again guilt or innocence won’t be determined for the two 16-year-olds at this preliminary hearing, which I believe will take place by the end of the year.