Prosecutor wants to try juvenile as an adult

By DAN KEGLEY/Staff

The 14-year-old boy held in the shooting of a Groseclose truck stop clerk last week may be charged as an adult, and Southwest Virginia Mental Health Institute is reviewing its procedures in the tragedy’s wake.
The juvenile was initially charged with attempted capital murder, armed robbery and use of a firearm in commission of a felony, said a Smyth County Sheriff’s Office statement released Friday, Oct. 26, the day after the shooting.
According to Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Herb Clay, under Virginia law, a juvenile under age 16 cannot be charged with attempted capital murder. The charge, Clay said, is amended to aggravated malicious wounding, a Class II felony that carries a penalty of 20 years to life imprisonment and a fine of not more than $100,000.
A preliminary hearing is set for Nov. 14, Clay said. The purpose of the hearing is to determine probable cause, the likelihood that the accused committed the crime. If probable cause is found, the case will be certified to the grand jury, Clay said.
Clay said the preliminary trial could be delayed if the juvenile’s attorney, John Graham, orders a psychiatric evaluation for his client.
Graham said Friday his client would undergo a psychiatric evaluation, and he expects the hearing to be continued. Graham could not speculate on the juvenile’s competence to stand trial, saying he’s talked with him only by telephone but will hold an extensive interview next week.
The Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office has filed a motion requesting that the juvenile be tried as an adult.
Murtaza Waleed suffered a gunshot to the face during the incident a few minutes before midnight Thursday, Oct. 25. Waleed remains hospitalized at Bristol Regional Medical Center. He was initially taken to Smyth County Community Hospital and transferred to BRMC.
Derek Evan Fisher, 35, of 1504 Davis Valley Rd., Rural Retreat, was charged with attempted capital murder, armed robbery, and furnishing a juvenile with a firearm. From a previous incident Thursday, Fisher was also charged with breaking and entering a dwelling house, theft of a firearm, possession of a firearm after felony conviction, and petit larceny, the sheriff’s office said.
The boy’s connection with Fisher could not be determined.
The Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office would not confirm, because of the boy’s age, information from a Groseclose resident alleging the boy has a prior criminal record.
Peter Gilley, that resident, said Thursday that others in the neighborhood believe the juvenile had previously broken into a store, a camper, and a residence. None of those property owners, Gilley said, can prove the juvenile was involved.
But Gilley said he had a firsthand encounter in which the juvenile threatened him when Gilley confronted the boy and a younger accomplice as they allegedly vandalized a house near Gilley’s.
“The younger boy begged me, ‘Don’t call the law, don’t call the law,” Gilley said.
When Gilley would not be deterred from reporting the incident, Gilley said, the older boy said, “‘You’re an asshole. It’s none of your business what I’m doing at this house. Do you want to get shot?’”
“Are you going to do it?” Gilley said he asked the boy.
“Yes,” the boy answered, according to Gilley.
Gilley said he reported the threat, but the boy’s probation officer told him a warrant could not be served because of the way the juvenile phrased the threat.
Clay could not confirm any criminal record the boy had because juvenile records are sealed, he said. Clay did not recognize the name of the probation officer Gilley said he spoke with.
“He went from petty stuff to look what happened [at the truck stop],” Gilley said.
The juvenile’s relatives are saying similar things. The boy, whom the News & Messenger is not now identifying because of his age, is a victim of an overburdened and under-funded statewide mental health system, family members said.
The boy had been in a mental hospital the day before. But a treatment team evaluated the troubled boy and released him from Southwestern Virginia Mental Health Institute after finding him “ready for discharge,” according to hospital records shared by a family member with the Bristol Herald Courier.
Three of the boy’s family members do not dispute his wrongdoing, but insisted Monday their pleas for help have gone unheeded.
“By no means are we taking up for the crime that he has done,” the boy’s aunt told a Herald Courier reporter. “There are so many teens that struggle with this and the courts need to take it into account.”
A written statement released by the family and previously published in other media said: “Despite his mother’s requests and pleas to the court to give him the psychological help that he needs, he has only received probation, fines or short-term mental health treatments for three weeks or less. ... We feel that unless he gets the help he needs, and learns how to cope, he will without a doubt, become more bitter and dangerous by the time he is released back into society.”
According to his hospital discharge papers, the boy was released from Southwestern Virginia Mental Health Institute in Marion on Oct. 24 after nine days. The reason for his hospitalization is not included in his discharge papers.
“We discharged him to the courts for a hearing for a previous charge,” Dr. Cynthia McClaskey, director of SWVMHI, said Thursday. “We developed a comprehensive plan for him to receive continued treatment.”
McClaskey said that outpatient treatment would have been administered by Mount Rogers Community Services.
“It is a very tragic situation,” McClaskey said. “We are reviewing our own processes in response to the situation.” The director said it is too early to predict whether any recommendations could come out of that review.
“His mom has taken him to school counselors, she has talked to the principal at his schools, she has taken him to psychiatrists,” the aunt said. “The only place that has really helped him has been the institute.”
Upon his release, the boy was given one-week doses of Seroquel and Effexor and directed to take 100 mg and 75 mg daily, respectively, according to the juvenile’s discharge papers. He also was given prescriptions for both drugs, which carry warnings about increased suicide thoughts in some children.
“Denies S/H [self-harm] ideations,” the discharge papers state.
Seroquel is prescribed to treat bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, according to the drug’s Web site, Seroquel.com. Effexor is prescribed to treat major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety, social anxiety and panic disorder, according to the manufacturer’s Web site, Effexor.com.
The boy was scheduled for an at-home therapy appointment at 3 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25, but his assigned therapist refused to comment or to say whether the session took place.
Eight hours after the scheduled appointment, family members say the 14-year-old shot the store clerk.
“The child, one minute can be nice, and the next minute he snaps at you,” said his aunt, whom the newspaper is not naming to protect her nephew’s identity.
The problem, she said, is the state won’t treat him long term and the family cannot afford private care.
“The problem here is not the mental institution, it’s the judicial system,” the aunt said.
The family is praying that the judicial system factors in his mental illness when determining his punishment and gets him the help he needs.
“Why did he do this?” the aunt asked. “Why did a 14-year-old boy pull the trigger to shoot a man? We have no answers for that, and God in heaven knows we would have prevented it if we could have.”

Amy Hunter, Media General News Service, contributed.