Even though he may eventually be tried as an adult for his role in the murders of Half and Suzanne Zantop, 16 year-old James Parker will be treated as a juvenile as far as information provided to the media for the duration of the trial, New Hampshire State Attorney General to Philip McLaughlin said yesterday at a afternoon press conference at Hanover Police station.
Although he is technically a juvenile until certified as an adult by the courts, the Attorney General's office had petitioned to release Parker's name and face to the media in their effort to find the suspects, according to McLaughlin.
He cited the recent case of Concord, N.H. teen Jason Farrell as the reason for keeping quiet on Parker.
Three weeks ago, Farrell, convicted of second-degree murder in February 1996, was granted a new trial by the state supreme court because police kept his father from seeing him while officers questioned him about his crime.
According to New Hampshire law, when a juvenile is arrested for a crime, his parents must be notified he is being held. In the Farrell appeal, the court ruled that the teen waived his right to remain silent without knowing that his father was at the station waiting to talk to him.
The court qualified this, however, saying that a violation of the law regarding parent notification law does not automatically invalidate a juvenile's waiver of his Miranda rights.
The court constructed a "comprehensive, 15-factor test" for trial courts to use in evaluating a "juvenile's purported waiver." Factors for consideration encompass the ability of the juvenile to understand the consequences of waiving his Miranda rights, such as his actual age, apparent mental age and any previous dealings with the police or court appearances.
The methods and duration of interrogation, the length of time the juvenile was in custody and whether the juvenile was afforded the opportunity to consult with an adult are also considerations, as is the juvenile's understanding of the offense charged.
Whether the juvenile was warned of possible transfer to adult court is also a factor, the court said, as a minor "cannot be deemed to have knowingly waived his rights under any circumstances unless his is advised of the possibility of prosecution as an adult and the rights to be waived must be explained in a simplified fashion," the court said.
To admit statements made by a juvenile who has waived his rights, "the trial court must be persuaded by a sufficient number of favorable findings that a juvenile relinquished his rights against self-incrimination in an intelligent, knowing and voluntary manner," the court said in the Farrell case.
This same test, then, would be used to determine whether anything Parker says to authorities could be used in the upcoming trial.
Also at issue is the legality of releasing information regarding minors. In some states it is illegal to make any comments on the details of the investigation of a juvenile, according to one attorney.
New Hampshire criminal law defines an adult as "any persons 17 years of age or older or any person under the age of 17 who has been certified as an adult."
In New Hampshire, all felonies or crimes that would amount to a felony in the case of an adult may be transferred from juvenile court to the superior court.
In deciding whether to prosecute a minor as an adult, the court takes several criteria into consideration, including the seriousness of the crime, "the aggressive, violent, premeditated, or willful nature" of the alleged offense, if the juvenile's associates in the offense were adults who will be charged with a crime, the minor's "sophistication and maturity," the juvenile's previous record and the "likelihood" of the minor's rehabilitation in the juvenile system.
