Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: PONTIAC, Mich., May 5 (UPI) _ A judge has ordered a 12-year-old boy with a 2-year-old criminal record to stand trial as the youngest person in Michigan history tried as an adult for murder. In setting a Monday trial date for Nathaniel Abraham of Pontiac, the judge today rejected defense arguments that a new state law allowing adult-court trials for children is cruel and unconstitutional. If convicted in the shooting death of an 18-year-old man last fall, Abraham could be sentenced to life in prison without parole. Abraham is charged with first-degree murder, assault with intent to murder, and two felony firearms counts. Assistant Prosecutor Lisa Tomko says Abraham's two dozen run-ins with police before the shooting _ many for serious crimes including arson left prosecutors with little choice but to seek an adult conviction. Speaking of the shooting, Tomko says, ``We had a situation where a boy said he was going to shoot somebody. He got a weapon and then he sat on a hill like a sniper and waited for someone to go by.'' Defense attorney Dan Bagdade says he plans to argue in court that the boy was playing with the gun, aiming at trees, when the victim was shot outside a party store. He also says Abraham is incapable of intent to kill, and plans to call psychologists to testify to his child-like mental capacity. The NAACP is also offering to help Abraham, who is black. Probate Judge Eugene Arthur Moore ordered Abraham tried in circuit court. A hearing on the admissibility of Abraham's police confession is set for Wednesday but officials say it's unlikely to delay the trial. -- Two rules in life: 1. Don't tell people everything you know. 2. Subscribe/Unsubscribe, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the body of the message enter: subscribe/unsubscribe law-issues
