Wisconsin appeals court says teenager accused of killing 10-year-old girl will stay in adult court

MADISON, Wis. -- The case against a Wisconsin teenager accused of killing a 10-year-old girl he allegedly lured into the woods will remain in adult court, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday.

Prosecutors charged the teenager, identified in court documents only as C.T.P.-B, as an adult with first-degree intentional homicide and two counts of sexual assault in connection with the death of Iliana “Lily” Peters. Investigators say Peters was riding her bike home from her aunt's house in Chippewa Falls on April 24, 2022, when the teenager, who was 14 at the time, persuaded her to leave a trail and explore the surrounding woods with him.

The girl's body was discovered the next day. An autopsy determined she had been beaten, strangled and sexually assaulted.

The teenager's attorneys, Michael Cohen and Alicia Linzmeier, asked Chippewa County Circuit Judge Steven Gibbs last year to move the case into juvenile court, where proceedings are secret. They argued that the teenager would not receive the mental health treatment he needs in the adult criminal justice system. The judge refused, finding earlier this year that such a move would depreciate the seriousness of the offenses.

The 3rd District Court of Appeals upheld that decision Tuesday, finding that Gibbs properly exercised his discretion. The appellate court noted that Gibbs detailed the severity of Peters' injuries, that the teenager told investigators that he attacked her, that he lured her into the woods and that the crime was premeditated.

A message left at Cohen's office wasn't immediately returned.