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Youth pleads not guilty in baseball bat killing


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A 13-year-old pleads not guilty in baseball bat slaying of friend.
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Crime, Law and Justice
California

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A 13-year-old California boy pleaded not guilty to murder charges Monday in the killing of a friend with a baseball bat after a youth league game last month.

The boy is accused of hitting 15-year-old Jeremy Rourke in the knee and head with an aluminum baseball bat on April 12.

The boy appeared at arraignment Monday in juvenile court in Sylmar, California, to deny the allegations in the prosecutors' petition.

Under California law, children under 14 cannot be tried as adults.

If found guilty, the boy could be held in a juvenile detention facility until age 25 -- and Rourke's parents said Monday they want to see that maximum penalty imposed.

The attack followed an apparent argument after a Pony League baseball game in Palmdale, California, about 40 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

The suspect was described as a well-liked boy with no criminal record.

Monday's hearing shed no new information on the circumstances surrounding the slaying.

Witnesses said the suspect's team had just lost its first game of the season, and he was getting in line at a snack bar when he and Rourke got into some sort of scuffle.

Some witnesses said there was a dispute between the teens over their place in line; others said Rourke teased the suspect over the loss.

CNN's Betty Anderson contributed to this report.


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