Juvenile Will Be Charged As An Adult For Child’s Murder
Birch, 17, Will Join Council, 18, in Facing 30 years to life For February Fatal Shooting Of 10 Yr Old AP Boy
A Neptune Township teen charged with fatally shooting death 10-year-old Yovanni Banos-Merino in Asbury Park back in February will face those charges in an adult court, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni has announced.
A Superior Court judge has ruled that Jah-Del K. Birch, 17, of Embury Avenue in Neptune Township, now faces adult charges for first degree murder, first degree conspiracy to commit murder, second degree aggravated assault, second degree unlawful possession of a weapon, and second degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, according to a written news statement.
“The State’s motion to waive Birch’s case to Superior Court was granted earlier this week in Monmouth County Family Court,” officials said.
Birch, along with Karon Council, 18, of Heck Avenue, are charged with killing Banos-Merino and injuring the boy’s mother Lilia Merino, 38, both of whom were not the intended targets of the Feb. 21, 2018 shooting incident along the 400 block of Ridge Avenue, officials said.
The child’s mother was treated and released from an area hospital but Banos-Merino was pronounced deceased at 11:18 p.m.
Birch was arrested without incident at Neptune Township High School where he was a member of the 2020 class. Council was arrested in Florida two days after incident after an intense manhunt. He faces the same charges.
The joint investigation conducted by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and Asbury Park Police Department, with assistance from Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office and Neptune Township Police Department determined Council and Birch arrived at the home to target an occupant also present within the home but who was not injured during the incident, the written statement said.
The pair now face 30 years for the first degree murder charge, which comes with a no early release act provision requiring them to serve 85 percent of the sentence. They also face up to 10 years for each of the other charges.
Birch, who was remanded to the Middlesex County Youth Detention Center, will go before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Paul X. Escandon for a detention hearing Tuesday, officials said.
The case is assigned to Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutors Matthew Bogner and Joseph Cummings. Birch is represented by Jeffrey Coughlin of Freehold and Council is represented by Paul Zager of Red Bank.
The public’s help is still being sought in finding anyone related to what officials are calling a criminal conspiracy case. Anyone with information can call Det. Brian Weisbrot of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office at 800-533-7443 or Det Sean DeShader of the Asbury Park Police Department at 732-774-1300.
Anonymous tips can be made via the Monmouth County Crime Stoppers tip-line at 1-800-671-4400, text ‘MONMOUTH’ and the tip to 274637, or send an email via monmouthcountycrimestoppers.com. The tip-line pays up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest of criminals and fugitives.
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