The state Court of Appeals ruled Friday that Kansas prosecutors cannot try a 14-year-old as an adult for a killing committed at age 13.
A three-judge panel upheld a decision by a Butler County magistrate judge who refused to authorize adult prosecution for two 13-year-old girls who allegedly murdered 93-year-old Joanne Johnson in Augusta in September 2023. They were both 14 when first-degree murder charges were filed in August 2024.
The decision means the girls will remain in the juvenile system if they are prosecuted, where potential confinement generally ends by age 22 1/2, instead of facing a possible life sentence in the adult system.
It is not clear whether Butler County prosecutors or the Kansas attorney general’s office will ask the Kansas Supreme Court to review the decision.
