ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, July 9, 1996 TAG: 9607090061
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA
SOURCE: Associated Press
JIMMY HERNANDEZ appeared before a judge Monday in Alexandria Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. For the first time in Virginia, reporters were allowed to attend and to report the defendant's name.
Relatives of a 16-year-old charged with the stabbing death of another youth sobbed in court Monday as a judge put Virginia's stricter new juvenile justice law to its first test.
The state law that took effect July 1 means the youthful defendant's name and details of his court case - previously shielded from disclosure - are public.
Jimmy Hernandez is charged with first-degree murder in the death Wednesday of Romulo ``Eric'' Ardila during a street fight outside an Alexandria middle school.
His case is the first to be prosecuted under a law passed last winter to address the disparity between increasingly violent teen-age criminals and a juvenile justice system set up mainly to deal with petty crime.
Reporters were allowed inside a cramped courtroom in Alexandria Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court as a judge explained the youth's rights to him and ordered him held without bond.
Before last week, such court proceedings routinely were closed to the media in the interests of sparing young people the public stigma. Judge Stephen Rideout asked reporters at the end of the hearing not to publish Hernandez's name.
``At this juncture, while the hearing is public, I would ask that you refrain from publicizing the defendant's name,'' Rideout said. ``While I do not feel that is something I can order you to do, I am asking you to refrain.''
The Associated Press is reporting Hernandez's name in accordance with the new law, which strips many of the old protections from youths older than 14.
Hernandez will automatically be charged as an adult if Rideout finds it likely that he committed the crime. Previously, prosecutors had to petition judges to charge juveniles as adults.
Hernandez' young sister placed her face in her hands and sobbed silently when Hernandez entered the courtroom under the grip of a sheriff's deputy.
Hernandez mumbled and whispered in response to gentle questioning from Rideout, and showed little emotion as he was led out of the room.
Rideout denied a request by Hernandez's court-appointed lawyer, George Wooditch, to release the youth on bond. Rideout said freeing Hernandez could endanger both the public and Hernandez.
``There could be some retaliation against him'' by other youths, the judge said. Alexandria Commonwealth's Attorney John Kloch told the judge Hernandez is charged with other serious crimes, including malicious wounding, in Fairfax County. That case is closed because the events took place before the new law took effect.
Rideout scheduled another hearing for July 29, when he will decide whether to prosecute Hernandez as an adult. Hernandez faces 20 years to life in prison if convicted as an adult.
If tried and convicted as a juvenile, he would be imprisoned only until his 21st birthday.
LENGTH: Medium: 64 linesby CNB