NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – The mother of a Newark police detective who was shot and killed this month wants the 14-year-old boy charged in his murder to be tried as an adult, though he is too young to be under New Jersey law.
The teen, who hasn’t been named because of his age, faces murder, attempted murder and illegal weapons charges in the fatal shooting of Det. Joseph Azcona, 26, on the evening of March 7. Azcona's partner was also wounded in the shooting.
On a Change.org petition, Azcona’s mother, Nereida Vargas, called on the state's “lawmakers and government to critically evaluate and revise current age criteria and laws for serious offenses like homicide.”
People under 15 years old can't be tried as adults under state law, including in murder cases. The teen faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison if he's convicted as a juvenile; as an adult, he'd face life in prison.
In the petition, Vargas wrote that “despite the severity of the matter, the state is unwilling to sentence the 14 year old as an adult.”
“This has left our family in a perplexed and painful position,” she continued. “We firmly believe that the gravity of the crime committed should be the determining factor of the proceeding, not the age of the offender.”
The petition had over 16,000 signatures as of Wednesday.
Azcona was part of a team of Newark police detectives and federal agents that had gone to capture a suspect in an illegal weapons sting when the officer was fired on in his vehicle, officials said.
At least four other people were taken into custody for questioning.