Font ResizeA 16-year-old Kearns High School student accused of killing a classmate should not be housed in the Salt Lake County jail while he awaits trial for murder, a defense attorney argued in 3rd District Court on Friday.
Defense attorney Ron Yengich said a Utah law that mandates 16- and 17-year-olds charged with murder must automatically stand trial in adult court does not clearly state whether teenagers must be housed in adult jail.
He said his client, Ricky Angilau, is being held unconstitutionally in the Salt Lake County jail. He asked Judge Vernice Trease to instead order Angilau to be held in a juvenile detention facility, where he won't be subjected to the "unnecessary rigor" he endures in an adult jail.
Angilau was charged as an adult with first-degree felony murder and other counts for the Jan. 21 shooting death of 16-year-old Esteban Saidi.
Prosecutors, however, said since Angilau was charged under Utah's direct-file law, that makes him an adult as far as the law is concerned.
"Mister Angilau is a chronological juvenile; he is not a legal juvenile," said prosecutor George Vo-Duc. "The answer is simple: He goes to jail. It's harsh, but it's a fact."
Vo-Duc told Trease it is not up to the court to decide where the Legislature intended teens charged under the statute would be housed. He said lawmakers must clarify that language in the law, which hasn't been done.
"The court does not need to go out on a limb and
Trease said she will issue a decision in coming weeks.
Yengich's request to move Angilau to a juvenile detention facility comes after losing a battle to have the case moved to juvenile court.
He previously argued prosecutors have too much discretion in deciding how to charge juveniles. He claimed children should be sent to adult court only after their right to due process has been protected in juvenile court.
But Trease denied that request, stating in a written decision released last month that prosecutors were correct in charging Angilau under the Utah law that requires 16- and 17-year-olds charged with murder to stand trial in adult court. Trease's decision noted that the Utah Supreme Court has held that "juveniles have no constitutional right to be tried as juveniles."
Ricky Angilau, 16, was charged as an adult with first-degree felony murder and other counts for the Jan. 21 shooting death of 16-year-old Esteban Saidi near Kearns High School.
The shooting occurred after Angilau and another teen agreed to fight off campus, according to charging documents. But when Angilau started to tire, he pulled a gun from his waistband and fired into the air, according to charges. He fired a second shot into a group of bystanders, striking Saidi in the lower abdomen, charges state. Saidi died at a hospital.
Angilau's mother, Teresa Angilau, has said her son claims he was outnumbered and "scared" and used the gun to frighten the others away.
Police have said the fight was part of an ongoing dispute between two gangs, but Angilau's parents insist he was never in a gang and the rivalry was an ethnic dispute between Polynesians and Latinos.
Angilau also was charged with felony counts of obstructing justice and unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon and misdemeanor charge of carrying a gun in a school.
