The legal arguments that emerged from the indictment of Michael Wehrung, nearly 40 years after the killing of Patricia Ann Rebholz, have been complex and controversial.

        But none more than Mr. Wehrung's bid to have the case against him tried in juvenile court.

        The 54-year-old roofing company executive is accused of beating his girlfriend to death in 1963 when both were 15. Defense attorneys argued unsuccessfully that their client is still a juvenile in this case. His status should not change just because it took prosecutors more than 35 years to charge him, they said.

        But prosecutors countered, using a 1997 statute that allows defendants to be tried as adults for crimes occurring when they were juveniles — if the suspect was not “arrested or apprehended” until after age 18.

        This aspect of the case was argued in county, appellate and state courts. In each instance, judges sided with the prosecution.

        In the appeals court decision, though, there was some disagreement surrounding the law.

        Ohio 1st District Court of Appeals Judges Lee Hildebrandt Jr. and Ralph Winkler agreed that the new law gives jurisdiction in the case to the adult court. But Appellate Judge Rupert Doan said the new law is unconstitutional in this case because it retroactively imposes penalties that Mr. Wehrung never would have faced in 1963.

        As a juvenile, Mr. Wehrung could have been jailed only until age 21. The second-degree murder charge he'll face as an adult could send him to prison for life.

        Two Ohio Supreme Court justices — Paul E. Pfeifer and Alice Robie Resnick — who cast dissenting votes when the argument was appealed to them fear any conviction might be overturned on appeal.

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