Bind over hearings for New Carlisle teen accused of killing her friend’s mother will be long process

A lengthy legal process is ahead for the case of a 15-year-old accused of stabbing the mother of her friend.

That’s according to Clark County Prosecutor Dan Driscoll, who asked the Clark County Juvenile Court to release jurisdiction of a minor, so the girl could be tried as an adult. He said it is not something his office does regularly.

“This is pretty rare,” he said. “Bind overs are only available in the most serious cases. In a case like this where the individual is only 15 years old, it rarely happens. I can think of, in the 15 years I’ve been here, I can only think of one or two times that we actually asked for a bind over for an individual this age.”

Natasha Ellis, 15, was arrested after an investigation by the Clark County Sheriff’s Office. She is charged with murder and two counts of felonious assault.

She was arrested along with her 13-year-old friend —- the daughter of the slaying victim, Lee Moore.

The 13-year-old is legally too young to be charged as an adult, Driscoll said.

Driscoll said because his office has asked the court to move the juvenile to adult court, the legal process will take longer than usual.

“What will happen down the road there will be a probable cause hearing where we’ll have to supply the court with enough facts for the court to relinquish jurisdiction,” he said.

That hearing will be done after Ellis goes through a competency evaluation that will determine if she is competent to help in her own defense.

The court will also hold an amenability hearing for Ellis, Driscoll said.

“The juvenile will be interviewed by a psychologist and they’ll do a report that talks about a number of different mental health factors which the court will look at when it makes its decision,” he said.

If the teen is transferred to adult court, the process will start over — except this time in Clark County Common Pleas Court — Driscoll said.

“We would have to go through the whole indictment and pretrial process (before a trial),” he said.

The case is the second time in the last three years that the office has requested to move a juvenile to adult court. In October 2016, 16-year-old Nicholas Starling was charged with the murder of his 14-year-old brother.

He was eventually convicted of murder in Clark County Common Pleas Court. Starling was sentenced to a prison term of 15 years-to-life.

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