Prior victim, Omaha group talk changes to juvenile justice after homicide

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Most of the youths accused of being involved in 64-year-old Mursal Jama’s shooting death are not strangers to the justice system.

That includes the 11-year-old and 13-year-old boys, who cannot be tried as adults.

“They can’t be detained even because of their age,” said Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine.

He said his office is somewhat hamstrung by the current statute, which they’ve tried to have changed.

The two youngest juveniles in this case have criminal records.

According to police reports, the 13-year-old had been charged for terroristic threats in June, while the 11-year-old was charged for motor vehicle theft on two occasions earlier this year, and stealing Tucker Morgan’s gun out of his car in July.

“If you’re going to do big boy crimes, you should be charged as an adult,” Morgan said. “I think it’s crap that we continuously let these minors get away with—whether it be assaulting somebody downtown, shooting somebody—we continuously let them get away because they’re young.”

Other prior victims 6 News contacted did not want to comment.

“I’m not saying that we want to send an 11-year-old to the penitentiary,” Kleine said. “It’s just that we want to have some significant consequence for that person in the court system because of the terrible nature of what took place here.”

Tamika Mease is the executive director of the North Omaha Community Partnership, which works with at-risk youth. She said a lot of the younger kids are aware that they can’t get the hard charges the older kids face.

“I think that for that reason, they are easily persuaded by older individuals that get these younger kids to be involved in these older activities because they know what the law is,” Mease said.

However, she said there should be balance in how younger juveniles are dealt with.

“I don’t agree with everything falling under one category. But when you’re talking about something as serious as murder, we do need to find other options and we have to come and meet somewhere in the middle.”

The 13-year-old boy is scheduled for a preliminary hearing. The judge ordered he remain in custody.

The 11-year-old has waived his hearing.

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