Exclusive | Alleged 14-year-old cop killer cant be tried as adult in NJ handing him all sorts of perks: expert

He’s accused of killing a Newark cop — but he won’t be tried in public and likely won’t even serve out a 20-year sentence if convicted.That’s because the suspected triggerman is a 14-year-old boy — and in New Jersey, the courts won’t move kids of that age up to criminal court, no matter how heinous their crimes.“The state statute requires somebody to be 15 years old to treat it as an adult case,” said Laura Sutnick, a criminal defense lawyer and president of the Bergen County Bar Association, to The Post on Sunday.“But if you’re 14, you can’t be waived to adult court.”One year in age may not seem like much, but it will make a world of difference for the unidentified teen, who’s been charged with murder for allegedly gunning down 26-year-old Detective Joseph Azcona with an automatic weapon Friday night on a Brick City street corner.For one thing, a family-court judge will handle the case in secret proceedings, then decide the verdict — no juries allowed, Sutnick said.The potential sentence would also be very different.If the alleged shooter was tried as an adult, a jury could slap him with 30 years to life in prison for killing a cop.But as a juvenile, the most a suspect could face is 20 years — and he probably wouldn’t even serve the whole thing since there’s no mandatory minimum for minors, the expert said.

 After trial, his case would be sealed, and he wouldn’t have a public criminal record.“That’s really the most significant piece of having a juvenile case — your records are sealed,” Sutnick said.“Practically speaking, his case is in the newspaper, and everybody’s gonna know he was charged,” she said.“But if somebody says to him at a job interview, ‘Have you ever been arrested?’ … His case is sealed, so the answer is no.“It’s really a separate track for the justice system, and it’s designed that way.”The situation has left cops throughout the Garden State enraged at what they feel is a failure...