NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- A hearing was held Thursday to decide whether evidence should be allowed in the trial for an 11-year-old Lawrence County boy accused of shooting his father's pregnant girlfriend in the head while she slept.
Watch Bob Mayo's ReportState police allege that in February, Jordan Brown loaded his youth shotgun before school, then walked into Kenzie Houk's bedroom in her Wampum home and shot the 26-year-old woman in the back of the head while she was lying down, taking her life and that of her unborn son.
"It's evil and it's strange and I don't know how we're getting through each day," Houk's sister, Jennifer, said outside Thursday's hearing at the county courthouse.
Channel 4 Action News' Bob Mayo reported that Brown was led inside in handcuffs and leg shackles and sat silently during the hearing.
Defense attorneys David Acker and Dennis Elisco argued that some of the evidence should be suppressed, including an interview done by a plainclothes police trooper in the principal's office at Brown's school. Brown's father testified that he was not contacted to give permission for the boy to be interviewed and wouldn't have consented to it.
"It's horrible, there's no need for this. They did their investigation, the evidence is there. I mean this is horrible. It's evil, but we will continue to pray," said Jennifer Houk.
Houk's parents, Jack and Debbie, spoke outside the courtroom and said they don't understand why there's a dispute over the evidence, Mayo reported.
"If justice isn't served, I'll be here even after that. They're not getting rid of me," said mother Debbie Houk.
No ruling was made Thursday. The judge will decide at a later date whether the evidence should be thrown out.
"Today we didn't even know what it was about. I think its just playing games. I just don't understand it," said father Jack Houk.
A motive for the killing remains unclear. District Attorney John Bongivengo has suggested that Brown was jealous of sharing his father's attention with Houk and her two young daughters. Elisco and some of Brown's family members have said there's no evidence of that.
Brown is charged as an adult but is in custody at a juvenile detention center in Erie. If he's convicted as an adult, Brown could face up to life in prison.
"I'm praying for justice. That's all I want is justice," said Debbie Houk.
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