Posted 1:41 am Thursday, February 02, 2012
Youth Accused In Sister's Death To Plead Guilty
By DAYNA WORCHEL
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
The 16-year-old New Chapel Hill youth accused of shooting his older sister in the face in September 2010 is scheduled to plead guilty to murder today, according to information received from the office of Judge Jack Skeen Jr.
After previous delays, the trial for Mark Nathaniel Anderson was reset to begin on Monday. Smith County Assistant District Attorney Jason Parrish, this week, declined to comment on the reason for the trial being reset.
Anderson is accused in the shooting death of his 19-year-old sister, Amanda, inside the home they shared with their parents, Mark and Stacy Anderson, on Sept. 15, 2010. Autopsy reports showed she was shot in the head four times.
He was certified to stand trial as an adult on June 6 for the first-degree felony. Anderson had faced up to life in prison and a $10,000 fine if convicted, Smith County District Attorney Matt Bingham has said.
If Anderson had not been certified as an adult and had remained in the juvenile system, he could have gone to the Texas Youth Commission and been released in as early as three years, Bingham said in August. He could have been released after serving only two and a half years for credit granted for time served at the Smith County Juvenile Attention Center.
But Harrison said in court in June at the certification hearing that Anderson could have also been transferred from the commission after serving the two years in the juvenile system to serve as many as 40 years in the adult prison system.
