14 DAY TRIAL // 17-year-old Austin Sigg has confessed to the murder of missing school girl Jessica Ridgeway. The prosecution is pushing for him to be tried as an adult, but a new law in the state of Colorado might allow his case to be turned over to juvenile court.
Sigg has been arrested and faces trial for first-degree murder, felony murder and kidnapping of the 10-year-old girl, found dead earlier this month.
Police have also found evidence linking him to an attempted kidnapping of a 22-year-old young woman, in May. The girl was jogging at the time she was attacked, and fought back the assailant.
The teenager is currently held without bond in county jail, as Jefferson County Deputy District Attorney Hal Sargent brought to court "a confession and DNA evidence" which he described as “overwhelming.”
If he were to be tried as a juvenile, his maximum sentence would be seven years for each count he is charged with.
However, if he is considered an adult by the court, he faces life in prison, with a possibility of parole after 40 years, and will have wasted his entire life away in jail.
According to the Denver Post, Colorado House Bill 1271, signed by the governor in April, might allow the minor to be tried in juvenile court.
The prosecution would have to prove why Sigg has to be tried as an adult. If they were to fail to do so, he would be turned over to the juvenile system.
The law was passed in order to take the decision about a teenager's fate out of a prosecutor's hands, turning it over to a judge and jury. A reverse-transfer hearing will take place, in order for the ruling to be made. The hearing will take the form of a small trial.
Kim Dvorchak, director of the Colorado Juvenile Defender Coalition, has expressed her doubts about Sigg's case being passed over to the juvenile court, due to the gravity of his actions.
“It's a necessary safeguard. [...] But there would have to be pretty compelling facts to bring this (Sigg) back to the juvenile court," she said.