Murder case against Burlington teen transferred to juvenile court | News | Seven days

The state is no longer pursuing a 14-year-old boy accused of fatally shooting another boy in Bristol last year when he was an adult.

The second-degree murder case was removed from criminal court after Addison County Attorney Eva Vekos said she did not oppose the defendant's request to transfer the case in the family division, where cases involving minors are handled in a confidential procedure.

Last October, a group of teenagers were passing around a loaded 9mm pistol in a car when police said a 14-year-old boy shot and killed Madden Gouveia, also 14. After the shooting, the surviving boys hid the gun and initially told police they had been the victim of a drive-by shooting. They later declared the shooting to be an accident, according to police.

Vekos was criticized for her initial decision to file adult murder charges against the youth accused of shooting Gouveia. The adult prosecution exposed the youth, who is black, to public proceedings. Some media, including Seven dayspublished the name and image of the accused.

Seven days has since adopted a policy prohibiting the naming of juvenile defendants in most cases. The newspaper removed the youth's name from previous online articles.

Juvenile justice proceedings in Vermont are closed to the public. The criminal case files also appear to have been sealed. In response to an emailed records request this week, an Addison County court clerk responded, “The Court has no record of this case.”

In prior criminal hearings and filings, Chief Juvenile Defender Marshall Pahl, Vekos and Judge David Fenster had indicated they intended to move the case to juvenile court.

Pahl declined to comment this week; Vekos did not respond to a request for an update on the case.

Gouveia's mother, Kelly, previously said she wanted the case to be tried in adult court.