Teen homicide not unknown here

BLACK BROOK — The 14-year-old boy charged with second-degree murder following a stabbing here Thursday is being treated as a juvenile offender.

The New York State Unified Court System defines a juvenile offender as a 13-, 14- or 15-year-old child who commits a serious felony or other violent act; homicide qualifies.

Hunter Welch is 14.

"Convicted juvenile offenders can be punished like adults," the New York State Unified Court System website says.

And criminal records for cases involving a juvenile offender are not sealed unless the case is transferred to Family Court. 

"This is decided on a case by case basis," the site says. 

RAISE THE AGE 

The recently enacted Raise the Age law will play no role in the homicide that left Michael Zindler, 29, of West Chazy dead, apparently by a stab wound to the chest.

Results of an autopsy conducted Friday were not released by State Police.

The first phase of Raise the Age, which went into motion Oct. 1, increased the minimum age of teens who can be charged as adults in the courtroom. 

Previously set at 16, it is now 17. 

"Because the defendant is a 14-year-old, the recently enacted Raise the Age laws ... do not apply," Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie said in a statement. 

9 YEARS TO LIFE

Thursday's homicide recalls others that were perpetrated — or allegedly committed — by teens in the North Country.

While the murder of 10-year-old Andrew Pitkin by 14-year-old Michael Murphy occurred in 1984, the shocking homicide lingered in local memory, brought to the surface as, over the years, Murphy came up for parole.

Convicted of second-degree murder, he was sentenced to nine years to life in prison and released in 2012; the State Inmate Lookup website says he was slated to be discharged from parole in August 2017.

The same year Murphy was released, 14-year-old Dilan E. Clark stabbed his mother, Karen Bourdon-Clark, to death in their Constable home.

He pleaded guilty second-degree murder and was given the same sentence as Murphy — nine years to life.

Clark is incarcerated at Fishkill Correctional Facility, where Murphy also was an inmate.

Clark, whose heinous act was never publicly explained, is now 22. His first parole hearing is scheduled for December 2019; the earliest he can be released on parole is April 29, 2020.

JUVENILE CRIME INCREASING

A case still pending is that of 16-year-old Adrian J. Sawyer of Ticonderoga, who is accused of using a machete to cut the throat of 15-year-old Maverick Bowman on July 26.

He is also charged with arson, for allegedly setting fire to the home in the Washington County town of Putnam where he allegedly killed his friend.

Sawyer was charged as an adult, as Raise the Age had not yet gone into affect.

"There have been four homicides involving defendants 20 and under in Warren, Washington and Saratoga counties over the past year," Washington County District Attorney Tony Jordan said in July, according to a story by the Glens Falls Post Star.

Thursday's stabbing adds Clinton County to the list.

And according to North Country Juvenile Justice Profile data, juvenile aggravated assault arrests have been on the rise in Clinton County.

Out of six juvenile persons arrests in 2016, only 3 percent were associated with that violent crime.

In 2017, there were 11 such arrests —13 percent were for aggravated assault. 

— Editor Suzanne Moore contributed to this report.