Teen from 'good family' can't be tried as adult in sexual assault case: US Judge

Washington: In a juvenile case, a 16-year-old girl accused a 16-year-old boy of sexually assaulting her and filming it at a pajama themed party in Monmouth County.

Judge James Troiano of the said county asked the prosecutors to explain to the girl that she consider the long-term damage her criminal charges could cause to the suspect.

The Washington Post reported that the suspect, identified as GMC as per court documents allegedly sent a text to his friends that read "when your first time having sex was rape"

The judge said that the boy was a college-bound eagle scout and belonged to a "good family"

In another case, according to Judge Marcia Silva, a 16-year-old boy's alleged sexual assault of a 12-year old girl was not a heinous or cruel offense.

The suspect, identified as ERM in court documents, allegedly put on a condom and waited for the girl to return home from summer school. He held her and penetrated her. The girl bled and ran to a friend's house.

In this case, Silva ruled that a teen boy carrying a condom did not rise to the level of being calculated or premeditated which was the argument of the prosecutors.

Their request for a waiver was denied.

However, the appellate division of Superior Court of New Jersey has overruled both the decisions. The appellate panel said the judges in both the above mentioned cases ignored the prosecution's discretion.

Rather than neutrally considering whether prosecutors abused their power in asking for an adult waiver, the judges held bench trials in their respective cases.

The judges of the superior court Carmen Alvarez and Hany Mawla justified their denial using opinion of the evidence. They came to a conclusion that the prosecution met all relevant factors and made their request based on "clear error in judgement''

For the cases of GMC and REM, the decision of the superior court open the possibility of the cases being moved from family court to grand jury.