HONESDALE — Tristin Kurilla, the 10-year-old Damascus Twp. boy accused of attacking and beating a 90-year-old woman, causing her death last month, waived his preliminary hearing today.

"There's no real question what Tristin did here," Wayne County Chief Public Defender Scott Bennett told reporters after the hearing, which was closed to the media. "The most important thing is that he gets the help he needs."

Mr. Bennett said his office plans to ask the court "very shortly" to charge the boy as a juvenile, in part so he can be housed somewhere other than the Wayne County Correctional Facility. Because of the severity of the accused crime, state law requires he be initially charged as an adult and housed in the jail.

Since his arrest last month, has been held in a private cell, away from the general prison population, officials have said. He has been provided with things like television and coloring books.

Because a relative of the boy works in the Wayne County district attorney's office, the Pennsylvania Attorney General is prosecuting the case.

Both the public defender and the attorney general's office have or will hire child mental health experts to evaluate the boy in advance of the hearing to move to the case to juvenile court.

Assistant Attorney General Michelle Kluk said it was still too soon in the process to say whether her office would oppose a move to juvenile court.

A formal arraignment in Wayne County Court is scheduled for Dec. 10.

Contact the writer: pcameron@timesshamrock.com, @pcameronTT on Twitter