The 16-year-old boy suspected of killing his Titusville stepsister while on a family cruise waived his upcoming court appearance in Miami and pleaded not guilty to the federal charges, court filings show.
Defense lawyers for the boy, charged with sexually assaulting and killing 18-year-old Anna Kepner during a cruise ship vacation, entered the plea Tuesday, April 21, after earlier asking a judge to keep the teen from being held in pretrial detention as the case winds through federal court.
The teen, whose name is not being released by FLORIDA TODAY because of his age, was set to have an arraignment hearing Wednesday at a U.S. Southern District courthouse in Miami following his March 10 grand jury indictment on first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse charges in connection with Anna Kepner’s death while on a family cruise.
The waiver of his appearance means the next possible hearing will be on whether the teen, who lived with Kepner and his family in Titusville before the homicide, will be taken into custody, which is being sought by prosecutors.
“The core disagreement between the parties at this juncture is whether (the stepbrother) should be detained before his trial, not because he has violated the terms of the release order but only because the government believes that it can prove by clear and convincing evidence that (the defendant) is a danger to the community despite his compliance with the release order and the availability of additional restraints on his liberty,” defense attorneys argued in a motion filed Monday, April 20.
The defense had already filed a motion seeking for any pretrial detention hearing to be heard by U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin G. Torres, the judge who allowed the teen to remain free after the case was transferred April 10 to adult status. Initially, the teen was charged as a juvenile.
Federal investigators, who took jurisdiction over the maritime homicide aboard a Carnival cruise ship, said that Anna Kepner, a Titusville senior, was found dead Nov. 7 in the cabin she shared with the 16-year-old and a younger 10-year-old male sibling. The investigation determined that Anna was sexually assaulted in what prosecutors described as a “willful, deliberate, malicious and premeditated killing.”
On April 13, federal prosecutors filed a motion asking that the original release order for the teen be revoked since adult prosecution was being sought.
“…The defendant is a danger to others and should be in pretrial detention,” prosecutors contended.
Prosecutors seek teen to be detained in Kepner case
The teen had been released without any type of bond following a Feb. 6 detention hearing in which a magistrate judge denied the government’s request for detention. The judge moved to release the boy to an uncle’s custody in Hernando County.
“That evidence demonstrated the offense conduct the Defendant engaged in involved the most serious, egregious, and violative crimes one person can inflict upon another. He committed these crimes against a victim with whom he had no apparent relational strife, and whom he was being raised to view as a sibling,” prosecutors argued in their filing.
“Furthermore, he carried out these crimes without any warning he could commit such atrocious acts, and despite an apparent supportive family environment. Finally, the Defendant currently lives in a home where minor children reside.”
The teen could face up to life in prison if convicted on the charges.
J.D. Gallop is a criminal justice/breaking news reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallop at 321-917-4641 or jgallop@floridatoday.com. X, formerly known as Twitter: @JDGallop.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Anna Kepner’s stepbrother enters not guilty plea as lawyers fight detention
Reporting by J.D. Gallop, Florida Today / Florida Today
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