Shooter gets three years at treatment facility
Boy, 12, pleaded guilty to manslaughter charge in death of his playmate
BY VINCENT TODARO
Staff Writer

A 12-year-old East Brunswick boy who fatally shot his friend will serve three years as an in-patient at a treatment center for emotionally disturbed children.

State Superior Court Judge Roger Daley imposed the sentence last Thursday in Middlesex County Family Court. In early September, the boy, whose name is being withheld, pleaded guilty to reckless manslaughter in the death of 12-year-old Alexander Khoudiakov, according to Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Nicholas Sewitch.

The shooter was originally charged with aggravated manslaughter, aggravated assault and hindering the investigation, but the judge and Sewitch, who consulted with the shooter's attorney and the victim's family, agreed to downgrade the charges.

The court ordered that the boy complete a three-year program at Bonnie Brae Residential Treatment Center for Adolescent Boys, where the boy has been staying while in custody. When finished with the program, the Juvenile Justice Commission will decide the next course of action, Sewitch said.

The judge decided against imposing a sentence that could have included prison time at a facility such as the New Jersey Training School for Boys in Monroe.

The shooting happened on June 28 in a bedroom of the East Brunswick townhouse that the shooter shared with his father and grandmother.

The boy, who was 11 at the time, used one of his father's unsecured weapons to shoot his playmate, killing him instantly. Authorities said that the shooter, as part of his plea, admitted that he pulled the trigger intentionally, but he did not know the gun was loaded.

Another friend was in the room at the time, but was not involved and was not harmed.

The shooter's father, Michael Guerriero, 46, and grandmother, Josephine Guerriero, 72, were both charged with child endangerment and failure to prevent a minor from gaining access to a loaded firearm, and have pleaded not guilty. Police allegedly found 98 firearms and more than 1,600 rounds of ammunition inside the townhome after the shooting.

The gun used in the shooting was a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver, which authorities said was held 6 to 12 inches from Alexander's face when the single gunshot was fired, killing him instantly.

Sewitch said it was not a plea bargain agreement that led to the sentence, even though the boy originally was charged with aggravated manslaughter. There are no plea bargains in juvenile family court.

"He pled guilty to manslaughter, and the maximum sentence as a juvenile is three years," Sewitch said.

If he had been found guilty of aggravated manslaughter, the boy would have faced a sentence of up to four years, he said.

Sewitch said that considering all the facts and circumstances and the slight difference between the two charges and their sentences, he feels the best course was the manslaughter charge and the sentence imposed.

The shooter's attorney, Lawrence Bitterman, of New Brunswick, said his client is "very remorseful" and "feels terrible" about what happened.

The boy is receiving grief counseling at Bonnie Brae, as well as educational services. The center is a rehabilitation facility and vocational school for juveniles.

"He's going to school there," Bitterman said.

The boy was reported to have emotional problems stemming from his biological parents, who allegedly had drug problems and abandoned him.

Sewitch said the boy's background was taken into consideration, as were the wishes of the victim's family. And Bitterman noted that the case was interesting in that the attorney, prosecutor, the judge and the victim's family all agreed on an appropriate course of action.

Alexander, who, like the shooter, resided in the Kingswood Station condominiums, was to enter seventh grade this year at Hammarskjold Middle School. Alexander lived with his mother, Irina, and his older brother, Max. His father, Maxim, died in 2003.