HOWARD YOUTH FOUND TO BE DELINQUENT

Washington Post

Author: From news services and staff reports

Jacob S. Clemons, a Howard County youth charged with setting a 1988 fire in which two of his brothers died, has been found delinquent on a charge of involuntary manslaughter, Juvenile Court Master W. Girard Schwessinger Jr. said yesterday

An adopted South Korean child who has cerebral palsy and is blind in one eye, Clemons, 15, told police that he started the fire in his Ellicott City house in an attempt to commit suicide.

Clemons initially was charged with arson and first-degree murder in the deaths of his brothers, Jamie, 8, and Michael, 6. His case was moved to juvenile court over the objections of his father, David, who said his son should be punished. Officials said Clemons will be held at the Springfield Hospital Center in Sykesville until space is found in a juvenile treatment facility