The murder prosecution of Lincoln's youngest accused killer in recent history should be handled in juvenile court, his attorney argued before a judge Friday.
Natavian Morton's age — he's 16 — and the evidence police found as they probed the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Edgar Union Jr. support the rehabilitative services the minor could receive, Morton's attorney, Mark Rappl, said.
"He can absolutely be rehabilitated in two years," Rappl told Lancaster County District Judge Lori Maret.
His client has no criminal history, earned As and Bs as a student at Lincoln Northeast High School and had no prior history with guns.
At 13, Morton saw his father lying dead in his home shortly after he was murdered, Rappl said. He never received treatment for that.
Morton is accused of second-degree murder, unlawful discharge of a firearm and two counts of use of a firearm to commit a felony. If convicted as an adult, he'd face up to life imprisonment.Â
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Though Lincoln police have accused Morton of the shooting following a feud between rival gangs March 26, Rappl questioned the gang characterization and said there was more to the story that hasn't been previously shared.
"There was a melee going on," Rappl said.
At least 15 people in the two groups were fighting, people were throwing rocks, and other people had weapons including a baseball bat, a chair and pepper spray, Rappl said.
The shot was fired after a Jeep driven by someone in another group hit someone on the lawn, Rappl said, noting that evidence suggested Morton could have fired the gun in defense of others.
People in the feuding factions as well as workers at a nearby business described this "melee" to police, he said.
Morton didn't instigate the fighting outside the College View home either, his attorney said. That was a 17-year-old boy who was prosecuted as a juvenile for lying to investigators, Rappl said.
That boy picked a fight at Lincoln Southeast High School earlier in the day because he was sold a defective vehicle that got into a crash, Rappl said.
Following the fight, that boy stoked tensions on Facebook and rallied his group, which included Morton, Rappl said.
"I don't think rival gangs engage in commerce with each other on a regular basis," Rappl said.
Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Dan Packard conceded that Morton may have been a follower. But the evidence suggested he fired a gun at the home.
Union was hit by the bullet in the right cheek and it exited his neck, fatally wounding him, according to investigators.
Packard stressed that Morton fired the gun at a group of people in the middle of the afternoon in a neighborhood close to Union College.
Rappl said his client was impulsive during an escalating situation, he said, but that behavior could be corrected if he was disciplined as a juvenile and received treatment and therapy at the Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center in Kearney.
Packard stressed that if the case was transferred, the juvenile court would likely have less than two years to fully rehabilitate Morton.
The average juvenile offender completes treatment at the Kearney facility in nine months, but Morton, who turns 17 next month, would age out of the system when he turns 19.
The same treatment would be available to Morton in the adult system, and if convicted, Morton would be sent to the state prison system's Nebraska Youth Correctional Facility in Omaha, Packard said.
That's where Morton belongs, Packard said, noting after the alleged crime Morton showed signs of sophistication and knowledge of what he had done.
Morton apparently fled to Mississippi, where his family is from, and he cut his hair, the prosecutor said.
Law enforcement arrested Morton in the city of Gulfport on April 23.
The day of the shooting, Morton "was not high, and he was not coerced," Packard said.
"Two years is not enough time," Packard said.Â
Maret has taken the case under advisement.