PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Two Philadelphia teenagers are back behind bars after spending weeks on bail, charged with the beating death of a 73-year-old man.
The girl who’s charged waived the hearing in the traffic cone beating death of James Lambert last June, which moves her to the trial phase of her third-degree murder case.
Her lawyer Lonny Fish says she’s sorry and is taking responsibility.
“I think she should have been on house arrest. If I were the judge I would have put house arrest restriction on immediately,” said Fish.
“She is amenable to treatment. She is only 14 years old. With the proper treatment, she could not be a threat to society.”
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But the boy who is charged, and is now 15, contested the third-degree murder charges. His attorney argued that although he was the first to hurl a traffic cone at Lambert, he walked away, and that sole action didn’t cause the blunt force head trauma that resulted in Lambert’s death.
KYW Newsradio is not naming either minor because of their age.
Prosecutors played surveillance video from that night showing the group of kids following Lambert as he walked down Cecil B. Moore Avenue near 22nd Street.
The video then showed the 15-year-old defendant, who was 14 when it happened, take a traffic cone and hurl it at Lambert who was walking away from the group. He falls over, looking knocked out, but then gets back up. Then a 14-year-old girl, who was 13 at the time, throws another cone that knocked Lambert in the head.
The video also showed the 15-year-old mocking how Lambert fell, which the judge called “disgusting.”
He was held on the third-degree murder charges.
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During a tense bail hearing that followed, Lambert’s niece Tania Stephens told the judge her family didn’t know the teens posted bail, and said the family feels threatened.
“We are not feeling safe enough for my mom. We are really concerned about her, and to be accosted as soon as I got in the courtroom, I don’t care if they were coming to say they apologize,” said Stephens, who got into a heated exchange with the 15-year-old’s lawyer.
“There’s a protection order in place, and keep your distance. Because I don’t feel safe.”
There’s no mechanism to alert prosecutors when defendants are released on bail.
The judge set new bail standards. The 15-year-old now faces $1 million in bail, and the 14-year-old $850,000.
If bail is posted, both will be on house arrest.