A 14-year-old Montana boy pleaded not guilty to torturing and fatally beating his 12-year-old nephew, according to a report.
The teen, identified by the Bozeman Daily Chronicle as James Sasser III, appeared via video Thursday in Gallatin County District Court, where he pleaded not guilty to felony deliberate homicide in the Feb. 3 death of James “Alex” Hurley.
The boy’s grandparents, James Sasser Jr., 47, and Patricia Batts, 48, also face charges of deliberate homicide in the case. Court records show that the 12-year-old had been living with the pair along with two uncles and an aunt in West Yellowstone for about two years before he died of head injuries.