RENTON, Wash. — A 16-year-old who was on electronic home detention for a previous crime is accused of shooting and killing a fifteen-year-old over the weekend.
The shooting happened in Renton on Saturday and the teen died at the hospital on Sunday. The teen suspect is in jail, with bail set at $1 million.
“What King County Prosecutors asked for on this current case is that he be held reasonably in detention,” said Casey McNerthney, with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
During the suspect’s first appearance on Monday, it was revealed the teen suspect was on electronic home monitoring at the time of the shooting. The home monitoring stemmed from an alleged drive-by shooting five months ago.
“With that earlier case, what the King County Prosecutors did was act on it immediately when it came to us from Renton Police,” McNerthney said.
In this new case, defense attorneys said Monday their client called 911 and said he shot someone and stayed at the scene.
Even though the teen allegedly committed the crime while on electronic home monitoring, his attorney asked that he be granted electronic home monitoring again. Prosecutors asked for the suspect to be held in jail.
“When you use a gun in a drive-by shooting or an assault case or a murder case, that’s not a diversion and that has to go to the court,” McNerthney said. “Those are routinely cases where we ask for people to be held.”
King County Superior Court presiding judge Ketu Shah said electronic home monitoring is decided on a case-by-case basis.
“We really look at the safety of the community, the likelihood of someone appearing in future court appearances, and the administration of justice,” Shah said.
He said each person has a case worker who checks in periodically and the defendants are tracked at all times. They are sometimes allowed to leave their homes.
“There can be some exceptions for school, treatment, medical appointments, sometimes work if they have a stable work environment,” Shah said.
Shah said this technology has become more advanced, but sometimes people do have their monitoring revoked.
“We have a lot of people being monitored and, you know, there's occasionally people who don't follow the rules,” Shah said.
Shah said 371 people are on electronic home detention in King County, including juveniles and adults.