A lawyer for a 16-year-old boy being tried as an adult in the May 2007 sexual assault and killing of an 'Ewa Beach woman said there are factors in this case that have yet to come to light.

"No one does something like this without reason," said defense attorney Jeffrey A. Hawk. His client, Vernon Phillip Bartley, has been charged in the death of 51-year-old Karen Ertell.

"I will bring that up at a later point. There are factors that have driven this case that haven't been brought to light — a lot of factors that will be brought up at the trial."

Bartley, wearing ankle shackles and dressed in tan shorts, a tan polo shirt and slippers, made his initial appearance in District Court yesterday morning before Judge Edwin C. Nancino. Bartley didn't speak.

The judge set a preliminary hearing for tomorrow afternoon in the case.

Hawk said he expects Bartley to be indicted before the preliminary hearing takes place. He added that Bartley will most likely be held in some sort of solitary confinement while awaiting trial.

Hawk said federal laws regarding sight and sound restrictions for juveniles in jail will mean his client "won't be put in with general population," Hawk said. "In these sorts of situations in the past someone is usually held in solitary confinement."

Family Court waived its jurisdiction Tuesday on the case.

Prosecutors on Tuesday slapped Bartley with a series of charges, including first- and second-degree murder, second-degree sexual assault, second-degree robbery, first-degree burglary and unauthorized control of a motor vehicle.

He also was charged with unauthorized possession of confidential personal information, second-degree unauthorized computer access, fraudulent use of a credit card and credit card theft.

Bail has been set at $500,000.

Yesterday morning, Hawk said his client was a "little bewildered."

"He's a little young and we're trying to get him through this without traumatizing him too much," Hawk said. Bartley's parents and family did not attend yesterday's court appearance, but Hawk described them as "heartbroken" and said he is in constant communication and working closely with them.

Hawk also addressed the public about youths who get into trouble.

"If people are genuinely worried about this sort of thing happening, they should take the time to donate to the Boys and Girls Club, any youth organizations like the YMCA or that sort of thing," he said. "Those are the organizations that stop this sort of thing. They keep youth in school, involved and out of crime."

Police arrested Bartley, then 15, the day after Ertell was killed when his father called authorities to turn him in. Ertell's body was found inside her home by her boyfriend and her daughter after co-workers reported she had not come to work and her Volvo sedan was found at Geiger Park.

Ertell, the owner of Koko Crater Coffee Roasters in Kaka'ako, was scheduled to testify against Bartley in a separate burglary case before her death.

Police described the murder as "very well-planned, very well-executed," and called it "heinous and outrageous."

Bartley admitted to planning the offense, said he acted alone, and that he waited for Ertell in the carport of her residence, according to a police affidavit filed in the case.

After Bartley was arrested in 2007, law enforcement officials said he had a juvenile record of at least 10 arrests. The youth came to Hawai'i with his family, from New Zealand, in 2005.

According to the police affidavit, Bartley admitted to choking Ertell. He also admitted to taking cash and credit cards from Ertell's wallet as well as her telephone, iPod and 2006 Volvo, the affidavit said.

Bartley, however, denied sexually assaulting Ertell. But DNA evidence recovered from a condom matched Bartley's, police said.

It's only been in the past 10 years that defendants as young as 15 could be sent to the adult criminal justice system. In 1997, state lawmakers passed a law that allowed 15-year-olds to be treated as adults in serious felony cases.

Previously, all youths younger than 16 had to be treated as juveniles and released at age 19, no matter what the crime, according to Family Court officials.

Staff writers Rod Ohira and Peter Boylan contributed to this report.