A DeKalb County teen will go to court later this month, charged with killing his 8-year-old cousin, after efforts to settle on the terms of reduced charges failed on Monday.
Charlie Oliver was 16 when he fatally shot Solomon Zellner in the face on July 6, 2011. According to police reports, Oliver said his finger caught on the trigger of a 9-mm handgun while playing in the room he shared with Zellner.
Now 17, Oliver is charged as an adult with felony murder and aggravated assault and faces a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole if convicted.
Zellner's mother, who had allowed Oliver to move into her home to help rehabilitate his teen misbehavior, had convinced prosecutors to reduce the charges against him.
"I don't want to see him lose his whole life," Angela Ramos said of Oliver in a May interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "He's still a child himself."
But Monday, an agreement over just what those reduced terms would entail could not be reached, prosecutors in the DeKalb District Attorney's Office said. They would not say what terms were offered to Oliver.
Based upon the current charges, however, he would serve 30 years in prison before becoming eligible for parole.
Oliver's trial is tentative scheduled to begin Aug. 27.
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