HAMILTON — A Butler County grand jury has declined to indict three youths and an adult in an alleged conspiracy to kill the New Miami police chief, but it's unclear whether the case ends here.

        Samuel Harrison, 19, is accused of burglarizing a home and taking a gun that police say was to have been used in an ambush of Chief Duane Pelfrey at the village police station. However, the grand jury refused to indict Mr. Harrison Thursday on a conspiracy to commit murder charge, and also ignored conspiracy charges against three juveniles that prosecutors presented under Ohio's new “serious youthful offender” law.

        Normally, juveniles' criminal cases don't go to a grand jury. But the new law takes serious offender cases to the grand jury and makes indicted youths subject to adult prison time if convicted.

        But what happens when youths are not indicted under the new law? Can the case proceed as a regular juvenile court case?

        The law doesn't address those questions, said Assistant Prosecutor Greg Stephens. He plans to meet with Juvenile Court Judge David Niehaus today “to discuss how the case will proceed from here.”

        Meanwhile, Chief Pelfrey said he was disappointed by the grand jury's decision.

        Proving a murder conspiracy is difficult because the law requires more than mere discussion; it requires an “overt act” in furtherance of the conspiracy, the chief acknowledged. Still, he thinks the grand jury's decision was “a letdown to the law enforcement community.”

        “We deal with people making threats to us every day, but not to the extent of sitting down and having this mapped out like these kids did,” Chief Pelfrey said. “They had it mapped out, they had access to the weapon. The only thing missing was the date ... It seems like they would have had to absolutely kill me for an indictment to be done.”

        The chief said he's hoping the youths can be rehabilitated.

        “I don't want to see these kids ruined for life,” he said. “I want to see these kids get some help.”

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