KENT COUNTY, Mich. -- The Caledonia teen accused of repeatedly stabbing his 13-year-old sisterwill be charged as an adult, prosecutors announced Friday.
According to the Kent County Prosecutor's Office, 15-year-old Max Hilton is being charged with assault with attempt to commit murder. Because he's being charged as an adult, his court file is now a public record which is why FOX 17 is now identifying the teen.
Hilton pleaded 'not guilty' Friday afternoon in court. His bond was set at $500,000, requests by his attorney to have it lowered were denied.
Citing the seriousness of the charges, Vicki Seidl with the Kent County Prosecutor's Office said the bond amount was appropriate.
Police were called to the 8500 block of Grainery Road SE just after 1:15 p.m. Saturday. They found the girl with serious stab wounds, and she was taken to the hospital by Aero Med.
Hilton was arrested. The siblings' father, whom the two lived with, was not home at the time of the alleged attack.
A motive remains unclear. Hilton has no previous criminal record.
The girl is expected to survive, according to the family.
Both of Hilton's parents sat next to him in court Friday with his father reaching over to put his hand on the boy's shoulder at one point.
The decision to try the boy as an adult in a juvenile setting is one that will allow the judge to consider both juvenile and adult sentences if convicted, according to Seidl.
"We can do whatever we need to do to figure out what's going on during the time we try to rehabilitate him and this allows us," Seidl said. "As opposed to just automatically waiving him, it would just be straight prison."
Hilton's defense attorney Chuck Boekeloo, who is also representing 12-year-old murder suspect Jamarion Lawhorn, said he could possibly request his client undergo a psychiatric evaluation before the trial proceeds.
Boekeloo said Hilton's parents did not want to address media other than to extend their thanks to the doctors and staff at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital for the care of their daughter.
"Certainly as you can understand, it's a stressful situation and you hate to see any family go through this as a parent of a victim or in this case the person who is accused," he said.
"To have both in the same family is devastating.”
Hilton is expected to be back in court next month.
