SUV teen will be tried as a juvenile

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- He's accused of taking drugs, driving an SUV, crashing it into the side of a moving train and killing four. Now a judge says Bobby Davis, 16, should only be tried as a juvenile.

Davis was just 15 years old when he allegedly stole that SUV and took his friends for that fateful joyride. Prosecutors asked the court to certify him as an adult, but the court said no. It took the judge just 60 seconds to make the decision for Davis to stand trial as a juvenile.

The accident took place on Baytown in June of 2007 as the truck plowed into a train. The prosecution wanted to try the teenager as an adult for the stolen truck joyride that killed three of his friends and twin brother. The state says Davis was behind the wheel. He tested positive for drugs. The defense argued his life could still be turned around as a juvenile.

"No one feels worse about what happened than Bobby Davis," said defense attorney Trent Gaither. "If you look at what he has already lost, as a consequence of what happened, you have to take that into consideration."

"It says that in this system unless you intentionally killed them you are not going to be held to the same amount of responsibility that someone who is two years older than you could have been held to and I am disappointed in that," prosecutor Kari Allen said.

The differences in punishment is that as an adult he could have been sentenced for life if convicted , as a juvenile he could get 40 years or be eligible for probation. The trial starts in May.

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