Nov 24, 2009 11:23 am US/Pacific
Girl, 15, To Be Tried As Adult In Mom's Slaying
EL DORADO HILLS, Calif. (CBS13/AP) ―
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An El Dorado County judge has decided that 15-year-old Tylar Witt will be tried as an adult along side her 19-year-old boyfriend Steven Colver for the murder of Tylar's mother, Joanne Witt.
CBS
An El Dorado County judge has decided a 15-year-old girl accused of killing her own mother will be tried as an adult.
Tylar Witt, who was 14-years-old when her mother was killed, will be tried as an adult along with her 19-year-old boyfriend Steven Colver. Witt and Colver are accused of killing 47-year-old Joanne Witt, who was found murdered in her El Dorado Hills home in June.
"There is no graver crime than matricide," Superior Court Judge James Wagoner said as he granted prosecutors' request to charge Tylar Witt as an adult.
The ruling means the girl could face life in prison if convicted of murder. She would have been eligible for release at age 25 if she was convicted as a juvenile.
The judge said he did not believe Witt could be rehabilitated in 10 years.
"This was not an easy decision to reach," Wagoner said. He said the evidence against the girl "shows criminal sophistication."
Judge Wagoner made the decision after a two-day "fitness hearing" in which Tylar took the stand to testify in her own defense. Graphic details of the murder were also presented.
During the hearing, a court-appointed psychiatrist Tylar has "conduct disorder," which is only seen in children and should be tried as a minor. The psychiatrist believed Tylar was impacted by her mom's drinking.
Tylar's aunt, Mary Witt, also testified that Tylar was abused by her mother. She said she say Tylar with a black eye and bruised shoulders and legs. Mary also testified that Joanne Witt would cover Tylar's bruises with make-up and send her to school. At one point, Tylar was taken from her home by Child Protective Services.
On the first day of the hearing graphic details of what may have allegedly prompted the murder were revealed. Witnesses testified that in the days before her murder, Joanne Witt gave police her daughter's diary, which allegedly contained explicit sexual details about Tylar and Steven's relationship.
Testimony revealed that Joanne walked in a bedroom of her El Dorado home seeing Steven on the bed and found Tylar in the closet. She was naked. On the ground there was a chain, leash, and collar. Joanne went to the cops.
CBS13's Koula Gianulias was in court during last Tuesday's testimony. She reported that Tylar seemed humiliated when her diary was being read, especially the details about sex. Tylar hung her head and covered her face.
Also in the diary, Tylar allegedly wished that her mother would die. "I pray to God she gets in a car accident today after dropping me off. I hope her car slams into a truck…and she dies from a crushed skull and pelvis."
Other testimony contained allegations that Tylar drugged her mother with Vicodin on the night of the murder and then watched as Steven slashed her mother's neck and chest.
Later testimony detailed allegations that Tylar and Steven went to see friends after the murder, doing drugs, dyeing their hair and showing off a bloody knife.
It was also alleged in court that Tylar and Steven had planned to run away to San Francisco and commit suicide with rat poison.
Witt is set to be arraigned Dec. 7. She was ordered held without bail in juvenile hall until then.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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