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The teen, now age 17, was 15 when the crime occurred in October 2024.
It has been almost two years since five members of the Humiston family were found dead in their home on Lake Alice near Fall City. Wednesday, a judge ruled that the teen arrested for the crime, a surviving son, will be tried in adult court.
King County Superior Court Judge Veronica Galván gave her decision at the Judge Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center in Seattle. According to reporting by The Seattle Times, Galván said she made her decision due to the seriousness of the offense, the teen’s potential for rehabilitation and the evidence against him.
The court order mandating the teen not be named in the media will remain in place until he is transferred.
The decline hearing process began Sept. 15 with several pieces of testimony across two weeks. Testimony was from family members of the teen, as well as experts and doctors. Then, Galván took a few weeks to consider what she heard.
Galván was tasked with weighing the eight Kent Factors, created by a 1966 U.S. Supreme Court case, to make her decision. She said six of those factors ended up in favor of sending the teen to adult court, according to The Seattle Times.
The teen’s defense team may appeal Galván’s decision, according to the Times.
If the teen is found guilty in adult court, he will start his sentence in a juvenile facility and then be transferred to the Department of Corrections upon turning 25. In this case, he would likely be given 25 years to life.
If he had been found guilty in juvenile court, he would be held at a juvenile facility and released by the time he was 23 years old.
The teen was 15 years old when the crime occurred on Oct. 21, 2024.
The King County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the adults as Mark and Sarah Humiston and the children as Katheryn Humiston, 7, Joshua Humiston, 9, and Benjamin Humiston, 13.
Three days later, the teen was charged with five counts of first-degree aggravated murder and one count of first-degree attempted murder. The teen and one of his sisters — then age 11 — were the only surviving household members.
