A 15-year-old Kent boy charged with two rapes on Kent’s East Hill had a hearing Monday in King County Juvenile Court to find out he will return to court Nov. 30 for a status conference.
Prosecutors will ask the court to try the boy as an adult, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. A hearing to determine whether he is tried as an adult is expected to be scheduled for early 2012.
Prosecutors filed first-degree rape and kidnapping charges Nov. 10 against the boy for allegedly raping a 17-year-old girl and 19-year-old woman on separate nights in late October.
In each incident, the boy approached the woman and the girl after they had exited a bus. In each attack, he allegedly told them he had a gun and threatened to shoot them if they did not cooperate.
If convicted in Juvenile Court, the boy could face incarceration up to his 21st birthday, according to the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. If convicted in adult court, the sentence range is 28 to nearly 36 years in prison with a potential maximum sentence of up to life in prison.
Under Washington state law, an offender who commits a serious violent offense is automatically charged in adult court if they are 16 or 17 years old. The boy turns 16 in March.
Kent Police arrested the boy Nov. 7 at Kentwood High School in Covington, where he was a student.
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