A court hearing has been continued to Jan. 15 for a 14-year-old Kent boy charged with first-degree rape and first-degree rape of a child for his alleged attack Nov. 7 on an 8-year-old girl near a Kent hotel.
The teen had been scheduled for a status conference Dec. 13 in King County Juvenile Court in Seattle but that has been continued to Jan. 15, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors want to charge the boy as an adult because of the seriousness of the alleged offense committed in an aggressive, violent, premeditated and willful manner, according to charging papers.
Because the boy is 14, the Juvenile Court will first handle the charges. A Juvenile Court judge must order adult prosecution for the boy and decline the case, which would send it to King County Superior Court.
A decline hearing isn’t expected to be held for a few months. The teen won’t be arraigned until after court jurisdiction is decided, according to the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. The boy remains in custody at the King County Juvenile Detention Center in Seattle..
If convicted in Juvenile Court, the boy could face incarceration up to his 21st birthday. If convicted in adult court, the sentence range could be 20 or more years in prison with a potential maximum sentence of up to life in prison.
Under Washington state law, an offender who commits a serious violent offense is automatically charged in adult court if they are 16 or 17 years old when the alleged crime occurred.
The boy attended Kent-Meridian High School before dropping out. Kent Police arrested the teen Nov. 7 for investigation of first-degree rape after an 8-year-old girl on Nov. 7 entered the Red Lion Hotel, 25100 74th Ave. S., wearing only a shirt and socks and told hotel employees she had been raped. The girl had a swollen face and scratches on her arms and legs, according to charging papers.
The girl told police she walked with the boy toward the Shell gas station before they went into a wooded area where he hurt her. When an officer asked her what part of the body the boy touched she replied, “Everything.” She said he struck her in the head multiple times. She said she had seen the boy a couple of times in recent weeks with her brother.
According to charging papers, the boy admitted to police he had sex with the girl. Police arrested the boy at a home in a neighborhood near the hotel.
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