Lawyers ask judge to handle Larosa case in two phases

WARREN

When 15-year-old Jacob Larosa of Niles was charged more than two years ago in the killing of his elderly neighbor, it was the first time in decades that a Trumbull County juvenile had been charged with murder.

It was a shock to learn that a boy was accused of crimes too horrible to describe in the newspaper. He’s being tried as an adult in the March 31, 2015, killing of Marie Belcastro, 94, at her home on Cherry Street.

Now close to turning 18, Larosa and his attorneys have asked that Judge W. Wyatt McKay of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court “make new law” by letting the Larosa defense team split the trial into two phases — trial and sentencing — both handled by a jury.

The procedure is used in adult court when a defendant is facing the possibility of the death penalty in an aggravated murder case.

Larosa isn’t facing a possible death sentence, but he could get life in prison without the possibility of parole, and his lawyers believe that sentence is the same as a death sentence.

Read more about the case in Thursday's Vindicator or on VIndy.com.