A Dundalk teenager charged with murdering a 16-year-old boy in what police call a “random act” will face a maximum penalty of life without the possibility of parole, Baltimore County prosecutors told him Monday.

William Russell Ferandes, 17, will be tried as an adult in the killing of Joshua Gibson, 16, Circuit Judge Patrick Cavanaugh ruled.

“This court has no authority to send this case to juvenile court,” prosecutor Jason League successfully argued.

Maryland law prohibits judges from transferring cases to juvenile court if “the alleged crime is murder in the first degree and the accused child was 16 or 17 years of age when the alleged crime was committed.”  

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Two of Ferandes’ co-defendants — Robert Louis Bragg, 18, and Robert Lee Wood, 19, both of Dundalk — have pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and related charges in the crime.  

Andrew Alperstein, Ferandes’ attorney, told the judge he would need to time to review prosecutors’ “voluminous” evidence.

“There are many hours of videotaped interviews ... and potential new evidence from the state I’m anticipating including co-defendants,” he said.

Shortly before 9:30 p.m. Jan. 28, Bragg, Wood and Ferandes were driving around and came upon Gibson walking near Church and Searles roads, police said.

Wood and Ferandes decided to “beat up” Gibson for “absolutely no reason,” according to Baltimore County police spokesman Mike Hill, who said the teens didn’t know the victim.

Ferandes is one of three juveniles charged with first-degree murder this year in Baltimore County.

He shares a cell at the Baltimore County Detention Center with Cockeysville teen Nicholas Browning, 16, who is accused of murdering his parents and two brothers in February.

Another teen, Towson resident Lewin Powell, 16, is charged with murdering his mother and attempting to kill his father in May.

Prosecutors are seeking life without the possibility for parole for Browning. They have not yet filed notice of the maximum penalty they will seek against Powell.

Both state law and a U.S. Supreme Court ruling prohibit prosecutors from seeking the death penalty against juveniles.

lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com