Boy involved in shooting put on probation

By NICHOLAS LEDDEN/The Daily Inter Lake

A 10-year-old boy responsible for the June shooting of a young Columbia Falls girl will remain under Youth Court supervision until he is 18.

Devon Noah Brown, of Marion, was designated a Youth in Need of Intervention and placed on probation during a hearing Thursday in Flathead County District Court.

As a condition of that probation, Brown is not to use, possess, or have access to any form of weapon.

Brown has been placed in a Kalispell group home, where counselors will tailor a regimen of therapeutic services for him. He will remain at the home until the program developed for him is completed, according to the Flathead County Attorney's Office.

Prosecutors filed a petition to designate Brown a Youth in Need of Intervention after dismissing criminal endangerment charges in December. The designation allows Youth Court officials to monitor Brown and provide him with counseling and other social services.

A psychological evaluation, conducted by a Missoula psychologist who has worked in the past with Flathead County Youth Court, concluded that Brown was not competent to fully understand the charge against him and was unable to assist in his own defense.

Prosecutors did not challenge the evaluation or seek a second opinion.

Investigators believe

that Brown was firing a .22-caliber rifle outside a Marion home June 8 when a bullet hit Kayla Oswald, now 8, in the stomach.

Brown and his older brother were playing with a bolt-action Savage Mark II .22-caliber rifle when the shooting occurred. Adults were not present.

Brown, then 9, initially told investigators he was shooting at a tree and Oswald had been hit by a ricochet. He later said the gun was pointed in Oswald's direction but it went off accidentally.

Oswald, who was picking flowers when she was shot, suffered serious internal injuries and spent almost a month in Kalispell and Seattle hospitals, where she underwent several surgeries.

After the shooting, prosecutors filed criminal endangerment charges against Brown in Flathead County Youth Court under statutes governing juvenile offenses.

Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan has said that in some cases young children can be held legally accountable for their actions, but he also said that any possible penalty should be commensurate with a youth's age and the alleged offense.

Brown's age precluded his being charged as an adult, but there is no law in Montana establishing a minimum age at which a child may be prosecuted.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com