ShareThisMore than 7,000 miles from his suburban Pittsburgh home, 15-year-old Joncarlo Patton sits in the custody of Indian authorities, who have accused him of killing his mother at a resort and dumping her body at the bottom of a sand dune.
His fate rests in the hands of a judicial system that to Americans may seem unfamiliar and unpredictable, experts said. But when it operates as intended, they said, it is far more lenient than the American one.
On Friday, the teen may learn whether he will face an inquiry, or trial, in the death of his mother, Dr. Cindy Iannarelli, 51, a business consultant from the suburb of South Fayette. She was found with her throat slit on Aug. 13 at a resort in Osian, a small town in India's western state of Rajasthan.
Police have said Joncarlo -- upset over his parents' divorce and frustrated with his mother's decision to move him to Italy -- obtained a knife from the resort's staff and killed his mother while she slept. Police arrested him later that day at an airport 60 miles away in Jodhpur, where they said he was trying to board a flight.
Patton's attorney in India, Rahul Mehra, confirmed the teen would have a hearing this week but declined further comment. His father, George Richard Patton of Collier Township, Pa., who was divorced from his mother in 2003, also has declined comment.
Because he is under age 18, Patton will be tried under the provisions of India's Juvenile Justice Act, which was adopted in 1986 and has been updated several times. The act outlines a system that is sensitive to the needs and psychology of children, experts said.
India has overhauled its system in the past few decades -- in part to fall in line with terms of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children. The United States has not ratified the convention because it prohibits incarcerating juveniles for life, according to Human Rights Watch.
A report prepared by the Childline India Foundation, a children's advocacy group, says that, under Indian law, minors are not to be tried as adults or detained in adult jails. The country outlawed the death penalty for juveniles in 1946.
But in practice, the system falls far short of its goals and is inconsistent, said Arlene Manoharan, a social worker and coordinator of the Centre for Child and the Law at India University's National Law School. Implementation of India's Justice Act is spotty and varies radically from state to state, she said, and there is little oversight to make sure states conform to its provisions.
Sesha Kethineni, a professor of criminal justice science at Illinois State University who has written extensively about the Indian juvenile justice system, said the act has not even been put into practice in some Indian states.
Because Patton's case will proceed under the close watch of the U.S. Embassy and international media, Manoharan and Kethineni agreed that he likely will be shielded from many of the system's flaws. Four members of the U.S. Consulate in New Delhi were sent to Rajasthan following his arrest, but the U.S. Department of State would not comment on their role.
"This is an important case and it's gaining publicity (in the United States) ... they're not just going to delay and delay and delay," Kethineni said.
And because Patton has an attorney, Kethineni said, the letter of the law will likely be followed in his case.
Experts said it's unclear what will happen if Patton is found guilty of murder, because juveniles are rarely accused of such serious crimes in India. Legally, the maximum sentence that can be given out by the board is a three-year term in what is called a "special home."
Those facilities usually are gated, Kethineni said, but they are more like boarding schools than jails or American detention centers. There is plenty of "freedom of movement" in those homes, she said, and children have access to vocational training and schooling.
E-mail reporter Moriah Balingit at mbalingit(at)post-gazette.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com
Must credit Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
