Adolescent brains are different, court told

May 09--ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- It was the defense's show Friday at a state court hearing in which the goal was to highlight research showing that juvenile brains are so different from adult brains that a state law allowing some youths to be tried as adults is unconstitutional.

Attorneys for juveniles charged with two beating deaths on the West Side in July called board-certified forensic psychologist Antoinette Kavanaugh, whose last institutional post was as clinical director of the Cook County, Ill., Juvenile Justice Clinic, to review recent research on adolescent brains.

The testimony came in the case against Nathaniel Carrillo, now 17, and Gilbert Tafoya, 16, charged with the first-degree murder of Allison Bailey Gorman and Kee Thompson.

Alex Rios, 19, also is charged with the crimes, but he was over 18 at the time and was excused from the hearing at the request of his lawyer.

Kavanaugh told 2nd Judicial District Judge Briana Zamora that science finally can explain what insurance actuaries figured out some time ago with regard to the riskiness of teenage drivers.

And the explanation, in short, is that multiple scientific studies over the past decade show the adolescent brain continues to develop into a person's 20s. The frontal lobe is the last area to mature, and it is that which governs how one weighs consequences, controls impulses, plans and recognizes emotions.

Kavanaugh said she hadn't examined or even seen Carrillo and Tafoya before entering the courtroom Friday and that her testimony dealt only with the extensive scientific research on adolescent brains in the fields of psychology and medicine. Using a Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, or FMRI, researchers have measured brain activity while a person performs certain functions.

She cited one study that found having peers or buddies around increases impulsiveness even if they aren't side-by-side.

Assistant District Attorney Vince Martinez argued that the issue should not be considered by the court until sentencing.

But Jeff Buckels, who heads the capital crimes unit of the New Mexico Law Offices of the Public Defender, and contract defender Mark Earnest said their clients' equal protection rights are being violated by requiring them to face the prospect of a 30-year sentence upon conviction when a 14-year-old would not face the same punishment for the same crime.

They underscored the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court recognized differences between adolescents and adults in the landmark 2005 Roper v. Simmons decision, which ended capital punishment for crimes committed before age 18. A later decision in a case from Alabama did away with life without parole for juvenile offenders.

Whatever Zamora decides is virtually certain to go to the New Mexico Supreme Court for a final ruling. The judge ordered written arguments to be submitted by the parties by June 1, saying she would rule after that.

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