A judge in Texas ruled on Thursday that a man accused of setting a boy on fire in 1998 will be tried as an adult, ABC News reported.
Don Willburn Collins was 13-years-old when he allegedly attacked Robert Middleton on his eighth birthday near his home in Splendora. Middleton was burned on 99 percent of his body and underwent physical therapy for years before he passed away from skin cancer -- blamed on his burns from the incident -- in 2011.
Middleton's mother, Colleen, expressed her relief over the judge's decision.
"When Robert died we were thinking maybe nothing will ever happen, maybe someone is just going to get away with what they did to him," she said. "It's been a long road."
Following the gruesome attack, Middleton identified Collins as his attacker, leading to his placement in a juvenile detention center. However, Collins was released after prosecutors said they did not have enough evidence to pursue a case.
Additionally, Middleton said in a recorded statement, released weeks before he died, that Collins sexually assaulted him two weeks before the burn attack. After the sexual assault allegation, investigators reopened the case and prosecutors charged him with murder last year. However, the case needed to be moved from juvenile to adult court for Collins to be tried.
After a three-day hearing on the issue, District Judge Kathleen Hamilton ruled Collins, now 28, will be tried as an adult.
"Because the state did not have probable cause to proceed in juvenile court and new evidence has been found since the 18th birthday of (Collins), I have further determined there is probable cause to believe that (Collins) committed the offense alleged," Hamilton said.
