16-year-old who tried to stab guard placed in state custody

Kim Smith

Thursday, Oct. 5, 2000 | 10:32 a.m.

A 16-year-old boy who admitted trying to stab a guard with a homemade knife has been placed into the custody of the state's Department of Child and Family Services.

District Judge Robert Gaston sentenced the boy Wednesday based upon the recommendation of the county's parole and probation department, despite voicing his belief that the boy might better be served at the Spring Mountain Youth Camp.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Frank Ponticello in June tried to get the boy transferred into the adult judicial system, but Gaston denied the request.

During that hearing, the judge called Ponticello "irresponsible and unprofessional" because he said he believed the boy acted knowing that he would not be sent to the adult system since Gaston had refused just days earlier to send two other boys into the adult system for an unrelated attack.

Since that time, Gaston's counterparts at Family Court have voted to reassign him to divorce and child custody cases, beginning in January. Some believe the decision was made in part because of Gaston's stance on certifying children as adults.

Ponticello said the boy sentenced Wednesday tried to stab a corrections officer in the neck with a homemade knife on June 18. The officer was able to fend off the knife, but in the process was bitten on the chest.

The boy had been jailed for breaking the jaw of a fellow student at Durango High School. The injured student underwent surgery to have a metal plate inserted into his chin.

Ponticello said the boy's criminal history goes back to June 1993 and includes arrests for malicious destruction of property, curfew violations, drug charges and petty larceny.

Gaston said at the orginal hearing that he was keeping the boy in the juvenile system because he didn't have a "tough, hardcore" record. He also noted the psychiatrist who examined the boy didn't think he was a danger to the community.

The Department of Family and Child Services will evaluate the boy's records and speak to his family before determining which of three training centers the boy should be sent to.

Gaston recommended the boy be sent to the training center in Caliente, which traditionally houses younger, less sophisticated delinquents.