Girl, 14, to be tried as juvenile in arson that killed firefighter

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Girl, 14, to be tried as juvenile in arson that killed firefighter

Wednesday, May 17, 2000

By Jim McKinnon, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

With her hands cuffed behind her back, 14-year-old Nikia Walton was smiling in the courtroom yesterday as she gazed into the faces of some of her relatives.

Nikia Walton, 14, is led from yesterday's hearing at which it was ruled that she should be tried as a juvenile in the death of a Pittsburgh firefighter who had responded to an arson in Brighton Heights. (Steve Mellon, Post-Gazette)

The smile may have been generated by the conversation she had with her defense attorney, David Shrager, before she headed to Common Pleas Judge Donald E. Machen's courtroom.

"I explained to her that she's not going to be facing life in prison," Shrager said.

His comments came moments after Machen granted his petition to have Walton decertified so that she can be prosecuted as a juvenile instead of as an adult on charges of second-degree murder and arson.

A murder conviction as an adult calls for a mandatory life sentence without parole.

In juvenile court, defendants who are adjudicated delinquent on any charge, including homicide, cannot be incarcerated past their 21st birthdays.

Walton and Jason Best, 18, are charged in connection with the June 17 arson fire at the former St. John Hospital complex in Brighton Heights. Pittsburgh firefighter Paul McGrath, 50, collapsed and died of a heart attack while working at the scene.

Best was 17 and Walton was 13 at the time. Both were charged as adults and had been held since then in the youth pods at the Allegheny County Jail.

Their attorneys filed petitions to have their cases adjudicated in juvenile court.

On Monday, Machen granted the request in the petition filed on Best's behalf after hours of testimony by a psychiatrist and sociologist who were presented by Gary Gerson, Best's attorney.

As yesterday's hearing was about to begin, Deputy District Attorney Marc Clark announced that Walton's petition would not be challenged.

"The right thing to do is not oppose the petition, because in all likelihood it was going to be granted," Clark said after the hearing.

He said that McGrath's brother and widow agreed with the decision.

"The family is quite compassionate," Clark said. "[They] believe [Best and Walton] should be handled in the juvenile system."

Shrager said that he had flown in a forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Kate Erwin of Boston, to examine Walton. Erwin was prepared to give testimony about Walton's lack of maturity, the absence of criminal intent when McGrath's exertion at the fire triggered the heart attack, and that Walton could be rehabilitated in the juvenile system.

"She's a little girl in a big girl's body. Emotionally she is very, very young, I'd say around 12 or 11," Shrager said of Walton, who is taller than her defense attorney and her older co-defendant.

"I think she understands the severity of what happened," Shrager said.

If adjudicated delinquent on homicide charges, Walton could spend the next 6 1/2 years in a juvenile facility.

Best faces up to three years.

Shrager said that he expected the juvenile court proceedings to begin within 90 days.