10/29/2002

Associated Press

A 14-year-old Bandon boy accused of raping and killing a 52-year-old woman last April will stand trial starting June 9, a Coos County Circuit Court judge has decided.

Judge Richard Barron set aside three weeks for the trial. The judge has already entered a not guilty plea for Raymond Allen Perkins, who is charged with aggravated murder and rape.

The murder victim was Judith Elman, a Bandon psychologist, who was jogging on a beach when the attack occurred.

After a three-day Juvenile Court hearing in September, Barron ruled that Perkins will be prosecuted as an adult. Conviction as an adult would draw an automatic sentence of life imprisonment with a minimum of 30 years confinement. If he had been convicted as a juvenile, he could have been imprisoned only until age 25.

The death penalty is not an option because of the boy's age.

Katherine Berger, a state-appointed defense attorney, said no defense strategy has been determined for Perkins.

"At this point, we're just having to sit down and take a fresh look at the case," she said.

Berger said an attorney for the state Office of Public Defense Services has filed a notice of appeal on the decision to try Perkins as an adult.

In their efforts to have Perkins prosecuted as a juvenile, Berger and co-defense counsel Gregory Hazarabedian argued that he lacked the emotional maturity to understand the seriousness of what he did. Testimony from expert defense witnesses indicated he has an IQ in the mid-80s.

If the defense plans to use a mental defect or illness as a defense, his attorneys must indicate that by the end of December -- the deadline the judge set for pretrial motions. He also set Feb. 19 and 20 to hear pretrial motions.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)