By Sharon Coolidge
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Prosecutors today are expected to argue that a 14-year-old boy should be tried as an adult in the shooting death of a man last month in Over-the-Rhine.

The teen's lawyer, though, will argue that his client did not kill David Hutchinson and the boy doesn't belong in adult court.

"I've handled a number of people who killed. I don't get the impression he is one of those people," said assistant Hamilton County public defender Terry Weber, who is continuing to research his client's past.

Court records say the teen was abandoned by his father, was under the care of county social workers and was placed in the temporary custody of his aunt when he was 6 years old. At the time of the killing, the teen was living in a third-floor walk-up with his mother and four siblings.

This past school year, he was at least two grades behind in school. He missed one-fifth of school days and was late 23 times.

Weber said his client was near the shooting scene and heard shots, but did not pull the trigger.

But Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen said his office is asking Juvenile Court Judge Thomas Lipps to move the case to adult court because prosecutors are confident of their case.

"This was a cold-blooded murder," he said. "Whether you're 14 or 94, the severity of offense merits it."

Aggravated murder cases belong in adult court, Allen said.

In Ohio, anyone charged with aggravated murder age 16 or older must be tried in Common Pleas Court. But it's left to a judge's discretion whether to keep a suspect age 14 or 15 in Juvenile Court.

On May 13, the boy's mother and aunt filed a missing person report with the Cincinnati Police Department saying the boy left at 7 a.m. three days before and hadn't returned.

The same day, two minutes before midnight and less than a mile away, Cincinnati Police Capt. Vince Demasi said the teen shot Hutchinson, 20, to death at Elder and Republic streets

Authorities said Hutchinson was shot three times during a robbery.

Nine days after Hutchinson's death, officers arrested the teen on juvenile delinquency charges of aggravated murder and aggravated robbery.

The Enquirer is not naming the the teen.

The boy is one of three teenagers charged in Cincinnati's 32 killings this year. At 14, he is the youngest. Demasi said he wasn't shocked at the boy's age.

Juveniles - those under age 18 - were either victims or suspects in 25 percent of Cincinnati's homicides in the last six years, Demasi said.

"It's a growing number, and it's a trend not only here but throughout the United States,'' Demasi said.

Violent crimes reported to police in Cincinnati and generally across the nation have been declining, but killings by teens are on the rise, he said.

In Ohio, there are 54 inmates under the age of 18 in adult prisons, two of whom are serving sentences for aggravated murder, according to prison records.

A 15-year-old girl is the youngest inmate, serving time for aggravated arson. Nine are from Hamilton County, the most from any of Ohio's 88 counties.

The process to determine if the teen will go to adult court is two-pronged. The hearing today is meant to determine if there is probable cause to believe the teen committed the crime. In the next step, authorities will evaluate the teen's mental health. Using information from both, Lipps will decide whether the boy should remain in the juvenile system or the case should be moved to adult court.

E-mail scoolidge@enquirer.com