The state's high court could decide whether teens charged alongside 18-year-old Alex Rios with beating two homeless men to death will be tried as adults.
Second Judicial District Judge Briana Zamora is letting defense lawyers for the two minors challenge the state's serious youthful offender law before the New Mexico Supreme Court ahead of the October trial.
Zamora issued an opinion disagreeing with defense lawyers' arguments that the statute violates a guarantee for equal protection under New Mexico's constitution.
Jeff Buckets of the Law Office of the Public Defender says the high court will get the application to review Zamora's ruling by July 13.
Prosecutors say the three teens killed 44-year-old Allison Gorman and 46-year-old Kee Thompson in July 2014.
The defendants are not being named because of their ages.
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Information from: Albuquerque Journal, http://www.abqjournal.com
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