CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The teenager accused of fatally shooting a fellow student at a North Carolina high school appeared before a judge Tuesday as his public defender requested a low bond and permission for the boy to stay home with his mother while awaiting trial.
Jatwan Craig Cuffie, the ninth-grade student charged as an adult with first-degree murder in the death of Bobby McKeithen, 16, appeared in shackles in Mecklenburg County District Court.
Cuffie, 16, showed virtually no emotion as Judge David Strickland explained the charges the boy faces after McKeithan was shot a day earlier in a hallway of Butler High School in Matthews, a Charlotte suburb. Cuffie said nothing when the judge asked him if he had any words.
Public Defender Joel Adelman asked Strickland to set Cuffie’s bond at $10,000 and place him in his mother’s custody at their home, saying Cuffie poses no threat to the community. Adelman also proposed the teen be placed under electric monitoring.
