Pa. Girlfriend May Face Charges
It appears the case against a Pennsylvania teen accused of killing his girlfriend's parents is shaping up as one that will also result in counts being filed against the girlfriend, perhaps even murder charges, according to one expert.
Court papers filed Monday by Lancaster County prosecutors say Kara Borden, 14, left willingly with boyfriend, David Ludwig, 18, after he gunned down her parents last week. The documents say Ludwig told detectives Borden ran from her home and into his car shortly after he shot the couple, and Borden said she went with him of her own free will. Kidnapping charges against Ludwig will be dropped, the papers say.
Ludwig said he shot Kara's parents after her father told him to stop seeing her, according to the papers.
She got in the car and said she wanted to "get as far away as possible, get married, and start a new life," the papers quote Ludwig as telling detectives.
CBS News legal analyst Wendy Murphy told The Early Show co-anchor Julie Murphy that, "Certainly, the fact that (authorities are) no longer referring to her as a kidnap victim, that she did in fact go willingly with him after the fact, is a step closer to charges. Now, it's not a done deal, but you can bet that that's the move the police are making at this point.
"If she is charged because she was part of the planning, if she is charged because she was sort of a co-conspirator, she will face murder charges, even if she didn't pull the trigger. And the important thing to know about this, in terms of Pennsylvania law, is because she's 14, she's old enough to be transferred to adult court, be prosecuted as an adult and face, not the death penalty because of her age, but life behind bars."
Murphy says the nature of the charges will depend on her level of knowledge, and the extent to which she was involved in the planning.
"If she was a part of the planning and this was an execution," Murphy says, "this was something they planned together — after all, he brought guns to the scene. This was not a fight. This was one gunshot to each of the parents' heads. That's an execution-style slaying.
"Then, he waited for her after the fact, as if they had agreed she would go with him after the murders. If that's what the story really is, she is just as guilty as he is. And I'm assuming a lot. I realize that. But she is as much responsible under the law as he is. And it doesn't matter whether you call it aiding, abetting, conspiracy, joint venture. The bottom line is, she will face life behind bars.
"I think it's pretty telling that she did go with him, even after her parents were murdered.
"You know, as a prosecutor, what I'm thinking about with regard to this particular type of kid is, was she so under his spell, was she in a kind of an obsessive puppy love about it, or was she so angry with her parents? That's the most important issue. Was she part of it, or was she a guilty, duped child?
"They had a lot of time to spend together to plan what their stories might be in the event they were caught. And the fact that he confessed means he is for sure likely to be convicted. It remains an open question about her."