Rule 8.15 Multiple juvenile defendants

When two or more juveniles are involved in the same case, they can be tried together in one hearing. But the judge only allows this if a joint trial will not unfairly hurt any of the kids involved. If the judge thinks one or more of the juveniles could be treated unfairly by combining the cases, the kids must be tried separately instead.

Even when juveniles are tried together, the judge still looks at each person's case on its own for every charge. This means one juvenile's guilt or innocence on a specific count does not automatically affect the outcome for the others. Each young person gets their own individual decision on each charge, even during a joint trial.