Will teen stabbing suspect face adult charges?

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - A 14-year-old girl is facing murder charges . She’s accused of fatally stabbing her 4-year-old cousin, Leon Thomas III. Now the Marion County Prosecutor's Office is deciding whether to try the girl as an adult.

“What’s the danger to the community posed by a particular juvenile, what's the future danger that they pose? If they're convicted for murder as an adult, you're looking at a prison sentence of 45 to 65 years,” said Peter Haughan, director of the Juvenile Division for the Marion County prosecutor’s Office.

His office will be examining everything, including the suspect’s history. Police reports show this isn't the 14-year-old girl's first brush with the law. When she was 12, she faced battery charges for beating up another 12-year-old. The report states she kicked a boy in the face, sending him to the hospital. Then, in February her grandmother, who is her guardian, reported her as runaway.

All this will play a role in the prosecutor's decision.

“On these kinds of cases, you look at everything,” Hauughan said. “You look at the child, you look at their home, their social, family, school, mental health needs, things that would be considered to be in the best interest of the child. But you also look at what would be in the best interest of the safety and the welfare of the community.”

The 14-year-old will be in juvenile court Wednesday afternoon. By then, Haughan said prosecutors hope to have a decision on whether the girl will be tried in adult court. If tried and convicted in adult court she could face 45 to 65 years. If not, she would become a ward of the state until she's 18, in rare cases 21.