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Bill Could Lower Age Of Juveniles Charged As Adults

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- There was a renewed push Thursday to lower the age when a juvenile can be charged as an adult. A local mom says she has good reason for the change.

In 2006, 2-year-old Emily Johnson was sexually assaulted and killed by the 13-year-old son of her daycare provider.

Emily's parents are pushing for a bill that would allow 13-year-olds to be prosecuted as an adult.

They say if the bill would have been in place at the time of Emily's death, her killer wouldn't be walking around free today.

"It was the worst time of my life," said Lynn Johnson.

She was at work when she got a call no parent wants to get.

"I get a call on my cell phone saying we can't get her to wake up," said Lynn.

Emily was at daycare when the provider's 13-year-old went into a room where she was napping and violently assaulted her.

"He threw her up against the wall, so she hit her head so hard," Lynn said.

And then he did the unthinkable.

"He did sexually assault her and just left her there to lay and then he went outside to play basketball," said Lynn. "Learning that someone intentionally did this and to not be punished?"

At the time of the crime, he was just weeks away from his 14th birthday, so he was charged as a juvenile.

"He served no prison time, no jail time," said Lynn. "He is attending public school. We know he has a job. We know he has a girlfriend."

The Johnsons are pushing for House Bill 1428 -- also known as Emily's Law. If it passed, juveniles who commit violent crimes could be charged as an adult as young as 13 years old.

There is a lot of opposition to the legislation. Some worry about racial disparity.

Joel Franklin is with the St. Paul NAACP.

"In 2007, the three largest metro counties in Minnesota -- Dakota, Ramsey and Hennepin -- all reported youth of color, accounted for almost 100 percent of the transfers to adult courts," he said.

Lynn says color isn't an issue in her case.

"Our killer was white," she said. "We're not mean, vindictive people, we're not trying to hurt anybody. We're not trying to fill the prisons with bad kids."

Thirteen states already allow violent juvenile offenders under the age of 14 to be charged as an adult. The House is scheduled to discuss the bill on April 26 -- one day before what would've been Emily's 7th birthday.

Sonya Goins, Producer
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