MONROE COUNTY, PA. Lawyer seeks to move teen to juvenile court

A national children's rights group has organized weekly vigils at the courthouse.
STROUDSBURG, Pa. (AP) -- A homicide suspect who turned 13 in the adult jail where he has been held since January will ask a judge this week to move his case to juvenile court.
Djinn Buckingham is charged with setting fire to his family's Monroe County home on Dec. 9, killing an 11-year-old cousin.
At a hearing Monday, defense lawyer Brian Gaglione plans to argue that Buckingham needs counseling for young fire-setters and should have his case removed from adult court, Gaglione said.
Police say the boy was fascinated by fire and set the 12:30 a.m. blaze using tiki torch fuel because he was depressed after an argument with his aunt. The fire killed Buckingham's cousin, Sierra Carranza, but six other people escaped.
The case has attracted the attention of a national children's rights group, Betrayed Innocence, which has organized weekly vigils at the Monroe County Courthouse.
Buckingham, the prison's youngest inmate, is not expected to know for at least several weeks if he will be tried as a juvenile.
Prosecutors are expected to present their expert evaluation later, District Attorney David Christine said.
State law
Under Pennsylvania law, homicide suspects are charged as adults regardless of their age.
Rainbow Buckingham, Djinn's mother, said she is allowed one half-hour visit with her son each week and can talk to him daily by phone. Her two daughters have been in foster care since the fire, but she hopes to regain custody of them by the end of the school year, she said.
She lived at the house with her sister, the victim's mother.
Police said Buckingham admitted spilling the torch fuel on the carpet in a hallway outside Carranza's room, then starting the fire with two matches.
He told police he thought he put out the fire and went downstairs, then heard Carranza screaming, saw flames and evacuated other family members from the house, according to a police affidavit.