Update In The Carson Peters-Berger Murder Trial.

Carson Peters-Berger was 14 years old when he allegedly beat, raped, strangled, and killed his 10-year-old cousin, Lilly Peters. Peter-Bergers, -now 16 years was said to have told authorities that he punched Lilly in the stomach, knocked her to the ground, hit her with sticks, and then strangled her to death before sexually assaulting her. Prosecutors have told the Court that Peters-Berger had planned to rape and kill his cousin from the moment Lilly left her aunt's house. Circuit Court records show that Peters-Berger was formally charged as an adult with first-degree intentional homicide and two counts of sexual assault to a child under the age of 13. If convicted, Peters-Berger could receive life in prison. Wisconsin does not have the death penalty, meaning Peters-Berger could not receive the death penalty for this case.

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals agreed to hear an appeal by Peters-Berger's defense team following Judge Steven Gibbs January 22 ruling that the case should remain in adult court. Peters-Berger is currently held at the Northwest Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Eau Claire, Wisconsin on a 1-million-dollar cash bond. It is said that Peters-Berger will remain in the custody of the NRJDC until his 18th birthday in which he will be transferred to an adult facility if he is convicted. However, Peters-Berger is hoping to have his case tried in Juvenile Court so that he would serve just 10 years behind bars and be allowed to walk free at the age of 25 instead of facing life in prison if he's tried as an adult. In Judge Gibbs ruling he stated, "The court disagrees that a possible 10-year confinement in the Juvenile system, registering as a sex offender, and that the defendant would be vulnerable to the adult system would be punishment enough for the defendant." Peters-Berger's defense lawyer, Michael Cohen objected to Judge Gibbs ruling by saying "Sending him to jail for decades wouldn't deter others and would only be retribution the Circuit Court correctly found that he could not receive adequate treatment in the Criminal Justice system and that retaining jurisdiction in the adult court is not necessary to deter him or other juveniles." Judge Gibbs refused to agree, adding. "The Circuit Court finds that transferring jurisdiction would depreciate the seriousness of the offense." The Wisconsin Attorney General, Josh Kaul, and Assistant Wisconsin Attorney General, John Flynn, have submitted a 25-page rebuttal. "The crime was too serious," Furthermore, "Peters-Berger intended to murder and sexually assault the victim as he convinced her to go down the trail with him. The court found that Peters-Berger admitted that the physical assault of the young victim was vicious and brutal, involving punching the victim, knocking the victim down, and hitting the victim with a stick. The notion that retaining adult jurisdiction would only serve retribution is rubbish."

At this time, no trial date has been set and Judge Gibbs declared the criminal case would not be able to return to criminal court until the court of appeals made its ruling which could take approximately court weeks once the arguments are filed, according to the Chippewa County District Attorney, Wade Newell. Peters-Berger is no stranger to the law as his father is 39-year-old Adam Berger, a convicted pedophile who spent a mere three years behind bars for possessing child pornography on his phone. According to documents, at least 10 of the photographs found on Berger's phone contained images of prepubescent girls depicting sexually explicit positions. Berger was found to have drug paraphernalia including several crack pipes within his home. Berger was living in a halfway house in Eau Claire when his son Carson was charged with Lilly’s murder. Berger described his son Carson in a letter stating “He’s the best of me” noting that he and his lawyers did not want to do extended probation because he wouldn’t have been able to have unsupervised visits with his son. Furthermore, Berger maintained that Carson was an unhappy child who never smiled or looked miserable while he was with his mother, 45-year-old Lauri Davis. However, Carson’s Grandmother said “Carson has not been very happy with his father being gone. Davis has been accused of being a bad mother with family members noting, “We have seen him out and about with his om and he never looks happy. He doesn’t smile, he’s always quiet and just looks at the ground and doesn’t talk.” It’s also been said that Davis was trying to limit Carson’s contact with his family and friends. When Carson’s father was sentenced to prison, all physical contact between Carson and his father ended. However, in a jailhouse letter, Berger stated that he would email his son daily and that he spoke to Carson regularly while he was with his Grandmother. Berger stated that he mailed Carson a crochet blanket that he made while he was in prison and that he dreamed of having a future with Carson. Berger added that he wanted to have contact with his son but wanted it to be unsupervised simply because Carson was “not a victim of my offense, and he is the best part of me.” The motion for unsupervised contact with Carson was denied. No information has been made available to the public regarding Berger and whether he has seen his son since his supervised release from prison.

Carson’s mother is no stranger to the law herself, having multiple convictions for drug offenses dating back from the prior two years before her son was born. However, Davis was also arrested for domestic battery in 2005 against her ex-husband, John Davis. Much like Carson, poor Lilly came from a broken home with her 40-year-old mother, Jennifer Everly serving a stint on probation for multiple counts of theft including charges stemming from using her mother's credit cards in the amount of 7,788.31. It was also noted that Everly conned her aunt and uncle out of a whopping 10,000 by inventing jobs that didn’t exist to obtain their bank account information.