RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) -- New questions are surfacing about whether something fell through the cracks concerning the 16-year-old suspect charged in the murder of eight-year-old Marty Cobb.
Heather Arrington said that the suspect was 12 years old when he attacked her then three-year-old son with a hammer in 2010.
Arrington was horrified to learn that the same person who attacked her son is now charged with murder.
Arrington said prosecutors explained that her son’s attackers would get mandated mental health treatment, medication and counseling. She said she was upset that she never received notification that the suspect was released from custody.
CBS 6 legal analyst Todd Stone said when juveniles commit crimes and are ordered to undergo mental health treatment, there is no requirement to notify the victim’s family when it’s completed.
Additionally, Stone said that the mental health treatment mandate given to the suspect four years ago were pretty standard and noted that the juvenile justice system is designed to rehabilitate a person.
“To make them better so they don’t keep going through the system. It’s not as much about punishment as it is about rehabilitation,” Stone added.
The 16-year-old suspect, who is being held in juvenile detention in Richmond, is scheduled to appear in a closed hearing on May 20.
This week a judge ordered all subsequent hearings in juvenile court closed, with the exception of the suspect’s family and the family of Marty Cobb.
Cobb’s funeral is set for noon on Friday.
