Buffalo, NY (WBEN) All eyes will be on a Buffalo courtroom again Wednesday as a judge will hear arguments to determine which of three legal scenarios the teen accused of causing the deadly crash on the 33 last month will face.
Erie County District Attorney John Flynn says there are three scenarios. "Family court, with minimal sentencing, stays with me in adult and gets youthful offender sentence, which also reduces the sentencing, or adult court and does not get youthful offender status and gets sentenced as an adult," explains Flynn, who is shooting for the latter.
Attorney Paul Cambria says the presumption is the case will go to family court. "However, that can be overcome, if the prosecution can show that there was either the use of a firearm or was a section involved offense or more relevantly here, that there was significant physical injury," which Cambria says is what Flynn is trying to show that the crash was significant enough to warrant adult status in adult court.
Cambria says this is relatively new legal framework, so there's little if any precedent to go on. "It'll be a matter of factual proof. If the court finds significant physical injury, the statute allows the base to be treated as an adult case," believes Cambria. He adds each decision that a judge has to make is difficult.
Cambria believes a decision will come soon. "It isn't like this is an elaborate sort of factual situation. So I think we're going to hear you know, within a few days," predicts Cambria.
The teen faces 25 years if convicted on adult charges.
