POCATELLO — Attorneys for one of two California teenagers accused of stabbing an elderly Pocatello woman to death in March argued against the process of automatically waiving their client from juvenile to adult court during a Thursday morning hearing at the Bannock County Courthouse.

Pocatello attorneys Bradley Willis and Robert Eldredge Jr. argued in favor of a motion they filed last month that requests the first-degree felony murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder charges filed against Isaac Angel Rodriguez-Romero, 18, of Marysville, California, be remanded back to a lower court where a judge would have to issue a ruling that indicates the charges warrant prosecution in district court.

Willis based his argument on the notion that the U.S. Supreme Court has handled several cases that address the rights of juvenile offenders being charged as adults, adding that Idaho has not handled similar case law, and therefore 6th District Judge Robert Naftz should analyze the constitutionality of Idaho’s statutes that relate to the automatic waiver of juvenile offenders.

Though Rodriguez-Romero is now age 18, he was age 17 when he and co-defendant, Dustin Garret Alfaro, 18, also of Marysville, allegedly stabbed 87-year-old Pocatello resident Arlyne Koehler to death over 55 times in March 2019.

“We believe at this point in time the court should review the Idaho statutes … that says if a juvenile commits one of the certain enumerated class of crimes they are automatically treated as an adult,” Wiills said. “There is a provision in (Idaho code) that gives the juvenile court discretion to evaluate the circumstances of the crime if he was under 14 and we believe it is more appropriate to say anybody under the age of 18 is classified as a youth and should be treated the same.”

According to Idaho statute, any juvenile, age 14 to age 18 who is alleged to have committed murder or attempted murder of any degree, robbery, rape, and among others, mayhem, the court may automatically waive jurisdiction from juvenile proceedings and order that the juvenile be held for adult criminal proceedings.

Moreover, the statute allows a judge discretion when sentencing a juvenile under the age of 14 when charged as an adult. Willis argued the discretion afforded to the judge at sentencing should also be applicable during the preliminary adjudication stages of a case, and that by not doing so the court is infringing upon juvenile’s, in this case Rodriguez-Romero’s, due process rights.

Bannock County Prosecutor Steve Herzog objected to the motion on the grounds that the discretion provided to judges at sentencing is sufficient enough and would not be a violation of a defendant’s due process rights.

Naftz denied the motion, deferring the request to analyze the constitutionality of Idaho statute to the appellate courts, which could hear Willis’ argument if Rodriguez-Romero is convicted of the charges and later files an appeal.

Additionally, Naftz explained to Rodriguez-Romero’s counsel that their defendant can appear at trial wearing plain clothes as opposed to a Bannock County Jail jumpsuit and that while he will not be forced to wear handcuffs or shackles on his hands during trial he will need to wear ankle shackles that can fit underneath his pant legs.

Before the hearing concluded, Eldredge Jr. mentioned to Naftz his intent to file a motion requesting a change of venue, but did not elaborate further on the future request or why it would be necessary.

Alfaro and Rodriguez-Romero are each currently incarcerated at the Bannock County Jail on $1 million bonds.

Family members found Mrs. Koehler, who lived alone, dead inside her Pocatello home on March 19.

Both teens were arrested on March 20 in California, less than 48 hours after Pocatello police held a press conference alerting the public about Mrs. Koehler’s murder.

The teens are accused of breaking into Mrs. Koehler’s home through a back window with the intent to burglarize her home, according to testimony from law enforcement during Alfaro’s preliminary hearing in September.

It didn’t appear as if anything was stolen from the home and Mrs. Koehler appeared to be sleeping when the teens allegedly stabbed her over 55 times, police testified.

Alfaro’s jury trial is expected to begin on March 3 and Rodriguez-Romero’s jury trial is scheduled to start on April 28. Both trials are expected to last three weeks in Naftz’s courtroom at the Bannock County Courthouse.

Prosecutors have not yet determined whether they intend to seek the death penalty against Alfaro and cannot seek capital punishment against Rodriguez-Romero because he was a juvenile when the alleged crime occurred.

Rodriguez-Romero would still face up to life in prison if convicted of either the first-degree felony murder charge or the conspiracy to commit first-degree murder charge.