NASHVILLE, Ind. — A Brown County judge will determine next week whether a 13-year-old accused in the shooting death of an elderly Brown County man will be tried in adult court.

The boy’s fate is tied to a state law that presumes a person 10 or older accused of murder should be waived to adult court. But the law also provides for an exception — if it’s proved that it’s in the best interests of the defendant and the community for the accused to stay in the juvenile justice system.

The 13-year-old and his 17-year-old brother are accused in the slaying of 84-year-old Richard Voland in November, allegedly after they forced their way into Voland’s rural home.

Court documents state that during the robbery, the 17-year-old gave a knife to his younger brother, who cut Voland’s wife, Mary, in the neck.

“Even an emotionally immature 13-year-old knows you don’t saw on a person’s neck with a knife,” Brown County Prosecutor Jim Oliver told Brown Circuit Judge Judy Stewart during a hearing Friday on whether to waive the 13-year-old to adult court.

If convicted in the juvenile system, the 13-year-old would be freed when he’s 18, then serve three years’ probation. If he’s tried as an adult, he faces 45 to 65 years in prison.

Jim Roberts, the boy’s court-appointed lawyer, cited a psychiatric evaluation that labels the 13-year-old as having attention deficit hyperactive disorder, adding that he is emotionally scarred from physical and sexual abuse as a child.

“What we have here is a . . . sick child who has pretty much fallen through the cracks,” said Roberts

In the evaluation, psychiatrist Tonya Foreman recommended that the boy stay in the juvenile system.

Oliver called the recommendation biased because Foreman did not consult the prosecution’s evidence.

While Stewart must decide what’s in the community’s best interest, Janet Voland already has an answer.

“I do not want him living down the street from me,” Richard Voland’s daughter-in-law said.