ACLU Advocating for Idaho Teen Accused of Killing Family

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging a judge's decision to hold a 15-year-old accused of killing his father and brother in the Kootenai County jail with adult inmates.

The Coeur d'Alene Press reports that the Idaho ACLU on Friday filed a brief in support of Public Defender John Adams' petition seeking to return Eldon Samuel to the county's Juvenile Detention Center. District Judge Benjamin Simpson on July 1 ordered Samuel transferred to the county jail to keep him away from other juveniles.

Simpson ordered that Samuel be held in solitary confinement at the adult jail. Samuel is charged as an adult with shooting 46-year-old Eldon Samuel Jr. and shooting and stabbing 13-year-old Jonathan Samuel in an emergency housing unit in Coeur d'Alene in March.