July 18, 1997 - Juveniles To Be Tried As Adults
Two juveniles will be tried as adults for their alleged involvement in the April Lillelid murders. Just after 12:15 AM this morning, Judge Jerry Goodson made that decision almost fifteen hours after testimony in the transfer hearings for Karen Renee Howell and Jason Blake Bryant began. Howell and Bryant were both ordered into the custody of the Greene County Sheriff's Department. They were taken to the Greene County Detention Center where Sheriff Terry Jones says they were to remain overnight.

(JONES VOICER...OC...COME UP WITH)

Requests by their attorneys that they continue to be held at the juvenile detention facility in Johnson City pending trial were denied. District Attorney General Berkeley Bell says his office next plans are to file aggravating circumstances against all six defendants, including the juveniles.

(BELL VOICER #1...OC...PAROLE)

The state presented evidence during the transfer hearing which showed had the two been sentenced as juveniles, Karen Howell, who turns eighteen this September, could have been released from custody five months prior to her nineteenth birthday. Jason Blake Bryant, who turns fifteen today, could have been released after only three and one-half years in a juvenile facility.