Heather Curtis

WMAL.com

WASHINGTON (WMAL) – A deadly assault at the Great Frederick Fair Friday has a community in shock. Two teenage brothers are charged as juveniles with assault. Monday Frederick County State’s Attorney Charlie Smith said he plans to pursue manslaughter charges.

“I know what you think the law is, but we know what the law is. So, for example, everybody demanding that they be charged as an adult. The law does not permit these juveniles to be charged as an adult,” Smith said in response to community outrage over the fact that the teens are not charged as adults.

There is a process where they can waive the teens into the adult system, and Smith said they are considering whether to do that for either of the teens.

Smith does not believe the attack was premeditated or provoked. He said the teens went up to 59-year-old John Weed of Mount Airy and asked him for a dollar. There was some sort of dialogue, and then Smith said the 16-year-old threw the first punch. A few minutes later, according to Smith, the 15-year-old delivered the fatal blow. Smith was unconscious when police arrived after the attack – which happened around 5:30 p.m. Friday – and flown to Shock Trauma in Baltimore. He died Saturday.

Some believe the assault was a hate crime, and the teens were playing the knockout game, which is where a black person tries to knock out a white person with a single sucker punch. In this case, the teens were black, and the victim white, but Smith said there is no evidence to indicate it was a hate crime.

“Right now, what we know, is that it was over a dollar bill. It wasn’t over race,” Smith said.

Spitting on someone is not a hate crime in Maryland, according to Smith. He said to rise to a level of a hate crime, someone must be assaulted or killed because of factors including his or her race or age.

“I know they’re upset about it, but there is this thing called the criminal justice system, and it’s set up to answer questions and deliver justice for the victim,” Smith said.

A judge ruled Monday that both of the teens remain detained pending adjudication.

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