The family and friends of an 'Ewa Beach woman allegedly raped and murdered by a teenager is calling on the Legislature to update and toughen juvenile crime laws.

The friends and family of Karen Ertell do not know if the 15-year-old Ilima Intermediate School student accused of killing her last May will be tried as a child or an adult. A Family Court hearing to decide that matter has been postponed three times while the suspect is held at the Alder Street Youth Detention Facility.

"I think in some cases, juveniles should be tried as adults, without question," said Malanie McLellan, Ertell's foster daughter. "Kids were a lot different when these laws were created. I don't think they were as violent. They need to be taken a little more seriously in certain cases and types of crime."

Rep. Kymberly Pine, R-43rd ('Ewa Beach, Iroquois Point, Pu'uloa), agrees and plans to introduce today a package of bills collectively known as "Karen's Law." Ertell's family and friends will be on hand for the 11 a.m. event in the Capitol rotunda and plan to lobby lawmakers afterward.

If passed, the law would change the way teenagers 15 to 17 are treated in the judicial system.

"If they take part in a heinous crime, such as rape and murder, we want them automatically tried as an adult, with the understanding that if they aren't guilty, they aren't going to go to jail," Pine said.

"Time spent on a crime as heinous and brutal as this should be spent solving the crime by proving guilt or innocence rather than which court a juvenile offender should be tried in," Pine said.

House Judiciary and Labor Chairman Brian Taniguchi, D-10th (Manoa, McCully), said he had not seen any details of the package Pine has put together, but he said there will probably be interest in it.

"We need to take a look at the criminal code and see if it's something we want to do, and if the circumstances would justify it," he said.

Ertell, the owner of Koko Crater Coffee Roasters, lived on the same street as the suspect, who has been charged with first-degree murder, first-degree sexual assault, robbery, burglary, auto theft and credit card offenses.

McLellan said that Ertell knew the suspect, who allegedly had broken into Ertell's home several times. She was scheduled to be a witness against him in another case when she was murdered. The boy was turned in by his father.

Juveniles convicted of murder are held the Hawai'i Youth Correctional Facility until age 18, unless the court extends jurisdiction to age 19.

If convicted of first-degree murder as an adult, he would face life in prison without the possibility of parole.

It's too late for any legislation to affect Ertell's case, but McLellan said she wants to protect people from having to go through what she has gone through, and hopes for a more streamlined system.

"We haven't even gotten to that point where he's going to be tried," she said. "We just want the trial to begin so we can start the healing process."

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.