Volume 113 >> Issue 29 : Wednesday, June 23, 1993

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McHugh Will Be Tried as Juvenile

Judge Severlin Singleton of the Cambridge Juvenile Court ordered earlier this month that Shon McHugh will be tried as a juvenile for the murder of Yngve K. Raustein '94. McHugh was just six days shy of his 16th birthday when he robbed and stabbed Raustein, a Norweigen student at MIT, last September.

A youth convicted of murder as a juvenile faces a maxumum of 15 to 20 years, while an adult convicted of murder faces life in prison.

Assistant District Attorney John W. McEvoy Jr. had argued last month that McHugh is not amenable to rehabilitation within the juvenile system, and that he presents a significant danger to the public.

Middlesex District Attorney Tom Reilly expressed disappointment over the ruling. "I am troubled by the inequities of the criminal justice system that treats people differently because their birthdays are separated by days," he said.

McHugh's two companions on the night of the crime, Joseph D. Donovan, 17, and Alfredo Velez, 18, will probably be tried after McHugh's case is over, according to Jill Reilly, spokeswoman for the District Attorney's office. They are also charged with murder and armed robbery.

Documents from a trial involving juveniles are usually not available to the public. However, a Massachusetts law passed two years ago stipulates that court papers from all first degree murder cases must be accessible by the public. This is the first such case which has come up in Cambridge since that law was pased.