Parents at court with son accused of killing brother, wounding mom

With his wounded mother looking on, a 13-year-old boy accused of shooting her and killing his younger brother in their Colorado Springs home Monday morning sat slumped over through a court appearance Tuesday.

Daniel Gudino was ordered held without bond until a follow-up hearing on Friday afternoon, where he could be charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder.

The teenager, wearing a light-blue detention uniform with his hands cuffed behind his back, hunched forward with his chin against his chest during the juvenile detention hearing before Magistrate Jeffrey Saufley in Colorado Springs.

The boy's shaggy brown hair swept over his eyes, hiding his expressions, and he didn't appear to glance at his parents, who sat in a front row.

His mother, Marina Gudino, 38, had her right arm in a sling. She didn't address the court.

Daniel Gudino is accused of killing his youngest brother, Ulysses Gudino, 9, and shooting and stabbing his mother at the family's home at 1837 Chapel Hills Drive about 8 a.m. Monday. Police received a 911 call from the mother at 8:11.

Ulysses Gudino was pronounced dead at the home.

Marina Gudino, a custodian at the District 20 administration buidling and had been a custodian at Douglass Valley Elementary School, was treated at a Colorado Springs hospital and released before the hearing, said Norene Simpson, the public defender who will represent Daniel Gudino.

A 7-year-old sister was in the home at the time of the shooting, but wasn't injured. The father and a fourth child, a 12-year-old boy, were not home.

Family members declined to comment at the courthouse.

Amy Fitch, senior deputy district attorney, said in court that prosecutors would likely announce Friday whether they will request that Daniel Gudino be tried as an adult.

Under Colorado law, children as young as 12 can be tried as adults if they are accused of certain violent crimes such as murder.

To have the case transferred to District Court, where adults are tried, prosecutors would have to request a special hearing of the Juvenile Court, which automatically has jurisdiction over children under 14.

"We're reviewing the reports and just gathering all the information at this point," another prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Debbie Pearson, said Tuesday morning.

Gudino, a slim-waisted seventh-grader at Mountain Ridge Middle School, is being held at Spring Creek Youth Services Center, a juvenile detention center in Colorado Springs.

Teenagers who are convicted of serious violent crimes in Juvenile Court face a maximum sentence of five years in the Division of Youth Corrections, which is supervised by the Colorado Department of Human Services.

If the case is transferred to adult court, they face a wider range of sentencing options.

They can get up to seven years in the Youth Offender System but may also be placed in prison with adult offenders.

If a judge elects to sentence a juvenile as an adult, there are no restrictions on where the Colorado Department of Corrections places him or her. According to Katherine Sanguinetti, a spokeswoman for the state's prisons, "very, very few" people are in that category. She could not immediately say how many.

"We are very cautious about where we put them," Sanguinetti said.

Unlike adults, children who are given life sentences are eligible for parole, though only after serving 40 years of their sentence.

Although youthful murder suspects are rare, several have been tried and convicted along the Front Range. They include Jacob Ind, who went to adult prison at 16 after killing his parents in their Teller County home in 1992. Isaac Robin-McCaine Grimes was 16 when he was sentenced to 60 years for a triple homicide in 2000 near Guffey.

Trying juveniles as adults grows more controversial the younger the defendants are, several observers said Tuesday.

"As you go further down the age spectrum, there are more and more people who are ready to question that," said Jeanne Smith, a former El Paso County district attorney now director of the state Division of Criminal Justice.

At Mountain Ridge Middle School, counselors were available for students and staff Tuesday.

A statement from the principal was read to students by teachers Tuesday, students said. A few teachers were seen crying in the hallways.

Daniel Gudino's classmates described him as a shy and quiet "nice kid," who had a handful of friends. He played guitar and Esther Choi, 13, said he is a talented artist.

Kristin Howarth, 13, who had a music class with Gudino, recalled, "He never really raised his hand in class."