Court weighs if 15-year-old charged with homicide should be tried as adult

By the time he was 13, Nigel Thompson had been hospitalized twice at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital.

Medical records showed he had suicidal thoughts and threatened to kill his family. He stole a gun, they said, and took it to school in his backpack. A juvenile court found that he committed theft and assault.

On Feb. 13, 2023, eight months after being sentenced to community service and probation with electronic home monitoring, police said Nigel left his home in Carrick, walked the short distance to Parkfield Street and fired a gun into a building.

Damonte Hardrick, 17, was killed.

Nigel was charged as an adult with criminal homicide and firearms charges.

He was 14.

Now lawyers are battling over whether Nigel should be tried as an adult, or if his case should be kicked back to juvenile court, where the system would have jurisdiction over him only until he turned 21.

On Wednesday, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Kim Berkeley Clark heard both sides of the issue.

Assistant District Attorney Todd Williams argued that Nigel’s case ought to remain in adult court — that there’s not enough time to rehabilitate the teen before he turns 21 in a way that protects society.

“His behavior has only gotten worse,” Williams said.

But defense attorney John Shaffer Jr. said that in the 13 months since Nigel has been held at the Allegheny County Jail pending trial, his behavior has gotten better, he has participated in therapy and has done well in school.

“When given appropriate tools and resources, he was able to improve,” Shaffer said. “He is actively trying to better himself.”

Clark plans to announce her ruling on April 29.

“This is not an easy decision to make,” she said.

‘Not enough justice’

To decide whether Nigel’s case is moved to juvenile court, Clark must weigh seven factors, including the threat he poses, the impact on the victim and community, and how well treatment would work for him.

The proceeding – called a decertification hearing – happened over two days.

On the first day, March 1, Damonte’s mother addressed the court.

Shawntia Hardrick, who was distraught on the stand, described her oldest son as a great kid who told jokes and wanted to be an engineer.

Damonte got good grades, played basketball and football.

“He had a great spirit,” she said.

Damonte was visiting a friend’s house the night he was killed.

“He just got done doing school work all day,” she said. “He just went out for a second.”

Damonte didn’t even know Nigel, she said.

“He got shot in his head by a kid,” Hardrick said. “If he died from a car crash, it would have been different.”

Her three younger children looked up to their big brother, she said.

“Every time I turn around in my house, someone is crying,” she continued. “I thought it would get easier with time. It’s not getting easier. It’s getting harder.”

She keeps her children in the house now.

“They’re afraid to go to the park,” she said.

Hardrick told the court that the six years Nigel could spend in custody — if the case were transferred to juvenile court and he was found at fault — is not enough time.

“That’s not enough justice for my baby,” she said. “No one cared about his life. We’re talking about a 14-year-old with a gun.

“Why did he have a gun? Why should he go to a juvenile system when he did an adult crime?

“It’s not fair. It’s not right. It’s not justice.”

At that same hearing, Nigel’s father also testified.

Giovon Thompson said that he and Nigel’s mother broke up before their son was born.

Nigel’s mother, Thompson said, was a drug addict who couldn’t care for him. Nigel was in foster care with Allegheny County Children, Youth and Family Services.

At age 6 or 7 he moved in with his paternal grandmother and then, around age 12, went to live with his father.

“He started hanging out with the wrong crowd,” Thompson testified. “He started running away.”

Thompson said he did what he could.

“I always tried to talk to him and get him on the right path, but as a teenager, it’s hard to get them to hear sometimes.”

Dueling doctors

Dr. Michael Crabtree, a psychologist who evaluated Nigel for the defense, described a difficult childhood when he testified Wednesday on the second day of the proceeding.

Crabtree testified that Nigel witnessed his mother’s drug use, once finding her overdosed with a needle in her arm.

Nigel’s grades were satisfactory in elementary school, Crabtree said, but they fell off dramatically in sixth and seventh grades.

Then, Nigel was hospitalized at Western Psych, Crabtree said.

He was discharged with a diagnosis of adjustment disorder — disturbance of emotion. Nigel also admitted to using alcohol and marijuana.

Crabtree diagnosed Nigel with major depressive disorder.

In a letter that Crabtree read to the court, Nigel’s counselor at the jail wrote about watching the teen “grow and mature.”

The counselor said that Nigel participates in classes, responds well to criticism, does his best work and is participating in group and individual therapy.

That, Crabtree testified, shows that Nigel is on the right trajectory. He testified that Nigel, now 15, is open to treatment and could be properly rehabilitated before his 21st birthday.

“He’s younger, there’s more time,” he said.

But Dr. Bruce Wright, a psychiatrist who evaluated Nigel for the prosecution and also testified Wednesday, disagreed.

Like Damonte’s mother, Wright said he did not think there was enough time to rehabilitate Nigel before he would age out of the juvenile court system.

“It’s difficult to predict where he’ll be in his mid-20s,” Wright said. “Previous attempts to rehabilitate him have been a failure.”

Juvenile probation records showed that Nigel allowed his electronic monitoring bracelet to shut down five times, missed his appointments frequently and tested positive for marijuana 31 times.

Wright diagnosed Nigel with unspecified disruptive impulse control and conduct disorder and unspecified depressive disorder.

‘I’m misunderstood.’

Wright testified that he does not see a correlation between Nigel’s mental health issues and the alleged crime.

He also testified that Nigel has a lack of understanding about the allegations against him.

“Without insight, it’s difficult to be rehabilitated,” Wright said. “You can’t rehabilitate somebody unless they’re willing to be rehabilitated.”

On cross-examination by Shaffer, though, Wright agreed that Nigel told him, “I’m not the person everybody thinks I am… I’m misunderstood. Everybody looks at me like a criminal. I could have done better. I could own up where I’ve done wrong.”

In urging the court to leave Nigel’s case in the adult system, the prosecution said that the shooting created fear in the community.

The crime was callous, and Nigel showed nothing but disregard for the juvenile justice system while he was on probation, Williams, the prosecutor, said.

Shaffer said that Nigel struggled after his release from Western Psych and during probation because he was returned to the same environment with a lack of support where he failed to thrive in the first place.

But Nigel has done well in the structured environment of the jail, Shaffer said, and he predicted that his client would likely continue to do so in a facility tailored to juveniles.

“He is capable of being rehabilitated,” Shaffer said.