Prosecutor says teen in Snohomish stabbing case could benefit from juvenile detention

A Snohomish County prosecutor said that he wants a 15-year-old girl guilty of stabbing two fellow students at Snohomish High School to get the help she needs in juvenile detention.

Prosecutor Mark Roe’s first priority, however, was making sure that the community was safe. Before he struck a plea deal with the girl’s attorneys, he countered several offers because he didn’t think she would serve enough time.

The girl will be remanded to a juvenile detention center until her 21st birthday. Upon release from the facility, she will be transferred to the Department of Corrections to serve a 100-month sentence.

Roe said they came up with a hybrid sentence for the girl that achieved both his goals and the goals of the victims’ families.

But her extended stay could also help her, Roe told 97.3 KIRO FM’s Dori Monson Show. “Our juvenile system is much more geared to realizing, if someone does such a terrible thing they’re still just a kid themselves and you don’t want to label them as some sort of throw-away kid. You want to help them.”

Roe said that in addition to education she could receive during her sentence, the natural maturing process that happens during teen years could help her realize why what she did was so wrong.

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