A juvenile judge on Tuesday recommended that a 13-year-old girl be sent to out-of- home therapeutic placement for her role in the deaths of two children during a fire at a Kensington Park home in July.
Chatham County Juvenile Court Judge Lisa Goldwire Colbert’s determination will go before a Department of Juvenile Justice Screening Committee that can accept, reject or alter the recommendation which carries up to two years in department supervision.
The child, who has not been publicly named, entered her guilty pleas Aug. 30 to charges of two counts of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of reckless conduct in the July 14 blaze in the 200 block of East DeRenne Lane. Savannah firefighters pulled two girls, ages 13 and 6, from a bedroom at the burning house about 2 p.m.
Both of the girls were rushed to Memorial University Medical Center where they died four days later. The third child who was charged fled uninjured before firefighters arrived.
The Savannah Morning News does not generally identify juveniles charged in non-designated felony cases. The charges against the girl are not designated felonies and were the child’s first referral to Juvenile Court.
Assistant District Attorney Kim Rowden initially charged the 13-year-old with involuntary manslaughter and arson in the case. She subsequently dropped the arson charge, citing the girl with involuntary manslaughter with the underlying offenses of reckless conduct.