A hearing was held Monday to decide whether a teenager accused of murdering a Brooklyn rabbi during an attempted robbery in North Miami Beach will be able to get out of jail on bond.
A bond hearing for 15-year-old DeAndre Charles lasted for more than two hours, as prosecutors brought in a DNA forensic expert to further explain the evidence they say they found on a gun and inside a car.
Right now, Charles is charged with murder and is being held without bond in the August 2014 shooting death of Rabbi Joseph Raksin.
Prosecutors want a judge to set a high bond amount if he decides to allow Charles to be released. Defense attorneys insist there isn't enough evidence to even hold Charles.
The judge is expected to give his decision at a later date. The trial is scheduled to begin in April.
"There's a lot of pressure involved in this case and the judge is taking it very seriously and reviewing everything," defense attorney Adam Goodman said. "We hope he's going to make the right decision, the one we think is right."
A witness claimed to have seen Charles running away from the scene of the shooting.
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Both Charles and his mother, however, insist that the 15-year-old was at home at the time of the murder.
Miami-Dade Police said 60-year-old Raksin was walking in the 800 block of Northeast 175th Street headed to his North Miami Beach temple when he was approached by two young men.
Raksin was shot during that encounter, and was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital where he later died.
