Teen charged in Racine fatal shooting to stay in adult court

RACINE, Wis. (AP) — A judge in Racine County has decided a boy who was arrested at age 14 in a fatal shooting should remain in adult court after weighing the teen’s criminal history and other factors.

Sincere Senmeon Granados, now 15, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree intentional homicide in the death of 17-year-old Jayden Cronin, who was a senior at Racine Unified’s Turning Point Academy.

Cronin was walking home from a football game the night of Sept. 3 when he was killed. A motive for the shooting has not been released, The Journal Times reported.

Defense attorney Laura Ann Walker argued that the case be moved to juvenile court because at age 14 it would be another 6 to 10 years before the teen’s brain was fully developed.

Factors such as impulse control and the ability to weigh decisions “in a reasonable and sensible fashion … could not have been done by him at the time,” she said.

Assistant District Attorney Antoinette Rich argued that Granados’ criminal history was relevant to keeping him in adult court. A Racine County Human Services Department case study stated Granados was charged with secondary reckless endangerment when he was 9 years old and had four more cases in the juvenile system after that, including attempted armed robbery at age 12.

Judge Timothy Boyle, noting Grandados’ record, said the adult institutions would have better programming to assist with his needs if he was convicted in the homicide case.