13-year-old Michigan girl charged with murder for stabbing her younger sister

TAYLOR, Mich. (AP) — A 13-year-old girl has been charged with first-degree intentional murder for stabbing her 7-year-old sister, whom she was babysitting at her Detroit-area home.

The 13-year-old's name was not released. She will be charged as a minor, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office said in a news release Tuesday.

The two siblings allegedly got into an argument after they were left by their parents at their Taylor home around 11:15 a.m. Saturday. The 7-year-old later went to the bathroom and was stabbed multiple times with a knife, according to the statement.

The older girl, who is also charged with aggravated murder and first-degree child abuse, called 911. Her sister died in a hospital.

Prosecutor Kym Worthy said consideration had been given to classifying the 13-year-old as an adult, but that was not the same as trying the girl as an adult.

The designation “gives the judge the option to sentence the defendant as a minor, as an adult, or to impose a mixed juvenile sentence with the option to impose an adult sentence if the juvenile is not rehabilitated,” Worthy said. “Our other option was to keep her in the juvenile justice system. We decided to do that.”

“Given her young age, the state would have seven years to diagnose, treat and rehabilitate her before she is compulsorily discharged at age 21,” Worthy continued. “Hopefully then she wouldn’t be a danger to others.”

After a preliminary hearing on Tuesday in juvenile court, the girl's arrest was ordered.