Judge: State custody for boy, 9, charged in death

BELLEVILLE— A judge in St. Clair County has ordered the state to take custody of a 9-year-old boy charged with first-degree murder in a toddler’s death.

Associate Judge Walter Brandon on Thursday ordered that the Illinois Department of Human Services take custody of the boy.

The Belleville News Democrat (http://bit.ly/TNAw4f ) reports the judge also ordered that the boy undergo a psychiatric evaluation by doctors at the Alton Mental Health Center.

The boy isn’t being identified because of his age. He’s charged as a juvenile in the beating death of a 14-month-old Cahokia boy in August.

Three adults are facing child endangerment charges in the case after prosecutors alleged they allowed the toddler to be left unsupervised in a Cahokia home with four other children.