A Mexican judge says a 14-year-old boy accused of participating in four beheadings for a drug cartel will only receive three years in prison if he is convicted and sentenced under a state juvenile law.
The judge in the state of Cuernavaca made the ruling after a daylong hearing for the teenager known as "El Ponchis."
The hearing was to consider whether the federal government should handle the case because of the gravity of the allegations against the boy.
Authorities say they arrested him at an airport south of Mexico City with a 19-year-old sister who is accused of helping him dump bodies.
Mexican officials say the boy was working for the Cartel of the South Pacific, a branch of the splintered Beltran Leyva gang.
