By Janice Morse
Enquirer staff writer

HAMILTON - For the first time in Butler County, a jury and not a judge is being asked to decide the fate of a juvenile charged with a serious crime.

The accusation against the 14-year-old is that he killed his 13-month-old brother, whom he was baby-sitting.

Attorneys on Monday told the jury in Butler County Juvenile Court that medical evidence would help them decide whether the teen is guilty of child endangering and murder in the June 16, 2003, death.

The trial is being prosecuted under Ohio's serious youthful offender law, which took effect two years ago in an attempt to hold violent juvenile offenders accountable for a longer period of time.

If convicted, the teen could be jailed as a juvenile until he is 21 - and then could be sent to adult prison if he commits a new crime or fails to complete juvenile rehabilitation programs.

The mother of the boys, now 29, is charged with involuntary manslaughter and child endangering. Prosecutors allege that she allowed her teenage son to baby-sit her four other children, knowing the teen had a history of violence. She has been jailed since shortly after the toddler's death.

Wearing a denim jail uniform, the teen's mother sobbed in court as lawyers talked about the night the toddler died.

Assistant Prosecutor Greg Stephens told the jury that the teen first told police his brother had fallen down the stairs but later told them he hit the toddler with a metal bed frame.

As a result, "a hole was blown in the heart of this child," Stephens said.

Bradley Carmella, the teen's lawyer, said he thinks medical evidence will be less conclusive.

Carmella said his client and his brother tried to revive the toddler by "violently doing what (he) thought was CPR." That action, Carmella said, is what caused a one-inch hole in the toddler's heart and killed him.

The trial continues today.

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E-mail jmorse@enquirer.com