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Boy To Stay In Jail For Now

TEXAS TOWNSHIP — A hearing was scheduled Wednesday morning in Wayne County court but the attorney for the boy charged with homicide withdrew that request ...

TEXAS TOWNSHIP -- A hearing was scheduled Wednesday morning in Wayne County court but the attorney for the boy charged with homicide withdrew that request for bail.

Now it appears, however futile, Tristin Kurilla may have been planning an escape.

Tristin Kurilla, 10, spent two nights behind bars, separate from the rest of the inmates and is getting round-the-clock supervision.

On Wednesday, Newswatch 16 learned officials found an escape plan on notebook paper in the jail where Kurilla is being held.

Only state police and attorneys turned out to the Wayne County courthouse in Honesdale for a hearing on whether Tristin Kurilla could get bail.

The 10-year-old boy stayed locked up, video-conferenced into the courtroom, when his attorney told a judge that jail is the best place for him for now.

"There's just, at this time, not the appropriate supervision," said defense attorney Bernie Brown.

Brown says it's fair to say the boy is too much to handle for either of his parents until he gets mental health treatment.

"The family just doesn't feel comfortable for numerous reasons, not only for supervision, work, of everything."

State police charged Kurilla with homicide in the death of Helen Novak, 90, at the home of the boy's grandfather north of Honesdale.

Troopers say Kurilla admitted to attacking her Saturday after she yelled at him to get out of her room.

"As a mother, I felt something from the beginning. This is extremely unique. We have a 10-year-old child that's committed murder," said Wayne County District Attorney Janine Edwards

Prosecutors say Kurilla is where he should be right now: in jail, separate from other inmates and getting recreation time and TV.

The defense and his family agree, for the time being.

A search warrant indicates evidence that Kurilla was plotting an escape, writing "how to escape" among other things, on notebook paper. It may be a sign that he knows what's going on or that he's just a regular kid, who's right now dressed in prison orange.

"He talked about that being a Halloween costume and said he'd never wear that as a Halloween costume, because that's what kids like him are thinking about right now," Brown said.

Kurilla's attorney plans to start the process of trying to have this case handled in the juvenile court system.

 

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