“This is not the place I want to be,” the accused 14-year-old told a judge Thursday.
SAN ANTONIO — Two teenaged brothers charged with capital murder made appearances in juvenile court Thursday, where both asked to be released from custody.
Instead, both were ordered to remain detained.
A 14-year-old and a teen who turned 16 this week were allegedly involved in the beating and shooting death of 14-year-old Simon Cuevas as he walked home from Brewer Academy back in April.
The two are being accused of attacking Cuevas, along with 18-year-old Fernando Flores who faces a capital murder charge in the adult system. Police had been looking for 20-year-old Caesar Tijerina in connection to the case, but he committed suicide before being taken into custody by police.
The mother of the teens stood with them as they faced Judge Jackie Valdes in San Antonio.
The mother told the judge she believed her younger son should be released because she believes he remains in danger while detained.
“I would plead with you to let him go on a monitor. I do feel that his life is in danger in there,” the woman said, adding that there are other detained youngsters who are trying to hurt the teen.
“He has already been attacked once but they did manage to get him out in time,” Valdes added.
When given a chance to speak, the teen said that “being back there taught me that it’s not the place I want to be and it’s not the place where I want to stay at. I just want to go back home to my family. I want everything to be OK again.”
Without hesitation, Judge Valdes ordered him detained, saying he is not allowing himself to be adequately supervised and he may remain a danger to himself or the community.
The result was the same for the 16-year-old who has been in detention for 15 days. The judge was told the teen had one incident of non-compliance with a staff member and another where he was accused of being verbally aggressive with another detainee.
The murder case has been a topic of high interest as police shared video evidence of a group of young men targeting the victim in west San Antonio earlier this year.
Police said Simon was surrounded and beaten to the ground. When he was essentially defenseless, one member of the group took out a gun and shot him.
A monthslong manhunt finally yielded arrests this month after the murder was the subject of a Crime Stoppers reward offer.
The two teens are due back before the judge for another hearing on Sept. 6.