A Little Rock teenager who authorities say led a break-in that ended with his uncle shot to death will face related burglary charges in juvenile court, a Pulaski County Circuit judge has ruled.
Rejecting an effort by prosecutors to try Corey Chadwick Click Jr. as an adult, Judge Cathi Compton further ordered that a separate robbery case against the 17-year-old must be decided in juvenile court. The judge's decision, issued Friday, comes after a May 4 hearing on the question of whether Click should face charges as an adult that featured testimony from police and Click's family.
In her two-page ruling, Compton found that Click is too immature for adult court and would benefit from the rehabilitative programs offered in the juvenile-justice system.
"I do not believe Corey desired to be treated as an adult," the judge wrote, referring to testimony about struggles the Click family has had with substance abuse, mental illness and poverty. "I believe he was forced by the grim circumstances of his family's existence to try to act like an adult."
Click was charged with residential burglary and terroristic threatening over allegations that he and his uncle, 39-year-old Chesrick Martin, forced their way into a Ludwig Street home in May 2020 looking for Martin's gun, which had been stolen from his pickup.
Martin and Click had been doing yard work at a nearby residence when Martin's truck was stolen. The two went in search of the pickup and found it by the Ludwig Street residence, but the gun was missing from the vehicle.
Believing the thieves were inside the home, the two beat on the door and demanded the weapon be returned but then broke into the residence, according to police.
Witnesses described Click as the one who kicked in the door to the residence and made death threats to the occupants, some of them using gang slang.
Police say Martin was fatally shot by 16-year-old Jayvian Coakley after Martin cornered the Little Rock teen in a bedroom in the residence. Coakley was cleared of wrongdoing for the shooting, but charged as an adult with theft by receiving over allegations he was involved in taking Martin's truck, court filings show.
Robbery and theft charges against Click are based on accusations that he ambushed a fellow student at Little Rock Southwest High School and beat up the boy to steal about $1,000 the boy was carrying.