Thursday, August 28, 2008
Juvenile Charged with Shooting Pregnant Woman to be Tried as an Adult
MEMPHIS, TN – Shelby County District Attorney Bill Gibbons announced Wednesday that, at the request of the District Attorney’s Office, a Juvenile Court referee transferred a juvenile to Criminal Court to be tried as an adult for allegedly shooting and injuring a pregnant woman last May.
The referee transferred Raymond Howard, 16, on one count of aggravated assault and one count of reckless endangerment for the May 29th shooting of Laquita Higgins at the Cambridge Court Apartments.
The shooting caused Ms. Higgins, who was pregnant, to have a miscarriage. She suffered additional life threatening injuries. Howard does not face charges related to the miscarriage because the fetus was not viable outside the womb.
Howard is being held in the Shelby County Jail on a $100,000 bond.
It is the policy of the District Attorney’s Office to request that juveniles who are 16 or 17 years old be transferred to Criminal Court if they are charged with committing a violent crime. The D.A.’s Office also carefully reviews cases in which a juvenile under 16 is charged with committing a violent crime to determine if a request to transfer the juvenile is appropriate.
Assistant District Attorney Terre Fratesi, the D.A.’s lead prosecutor in Juvenile Court, handled the transfer hearing.
|
Posted on Wednesday, August 01, 2007 (Archive on Wednesday, August 08, 2007)
Posted by jdonnals Contributed by jdonnals
|
| Return |