Twelve-year-old Jordan Brown is resentful and evasive and denies responsibility for killing his father's pregnant fiance, said a prosecution psychiatrist who believes the boy's chances for rehabilitation in the juvenile justice system would be "very limited."

"The first step to rehabilitating an individual is getting them to admit responsibility," John S. O'Brien II, said Friday at a hearing to determine whether Jordan, charged with two counts of homicide, will stand trial as an adult or a juvenile. "You're not even able to take the first step if the kid ... doesn't take responsibility for their behavior."

Police say Jordan fatally shot Kenzie Houk, 26, with a 20-gauge shotgun as she slept in their New Beaver farmhouse in February 2009. He was 11 at the time.

Lawrence County President Judge Dominick Motto has until April 1 to decide in which court Jordan should be tried. If he is found delinquent as a juvenile, the state could not hold him past his 21st birthday.

A first-degree murder conviction in adult court would make him the youngest person in the country to serve a life sentence in prison without parole. Jordan's attorneys Dennis A. Elisco and David Acker must prove he would be "amenable to juvenile treatment" for the case to be moved.

Dr. O'Brien painted a markedly different portrait of the boy than did defense witnesses during the first portion of the hearing in January. Family friends, a psychologist and counselors told Judge Motto that Jordan is an average, well-behaved pre-teen who would benefit from juvenile treatment. A defense psychologist testified that Jordan would be at "low risk" for future violence, but did not consider the possibility of his guilt in that assessment, Dr. O'Brien said.

The boy's "tendency to minimize, deny and shift blame," would complicate rehabilitation if not make it impossible, he said, adding that such characteristics can persist into adulthood. He said it was unlikely Jordan would ever admit guilt.

"He's got a lot of negative feelings in him that he won't reveal," Dr. O'Brien said.

He based his findings on a Feb. 24 interview with Jordan at the Edmund L. Thomas Adolescent Detention Center in Erie, as well as the boy's records and other considerations.

For the first time, Trooper Jeffrey Martin testified Friday that a fresh spent shell casing found in the driveway of the home after the shooting came from Jordan's shotgun.

Dr. O'Brien said he analyzed a transcript of last year's preliminary hearing and called the killings a "planned and calculated and concealed offense" that took "a significant degree of forethought and planning on his part."

Dr. O'Brien concluded that Jordan harbors resentment when he feels he has been treated unfairly, saying, for example, that said he had not seen his mother in more than five years because "she had spent her tax refund on fixing up the house instead of on him."

The impending birth of his half-brother, named for his father, Christopher, likely made Jordan similarly resentful, the doctor said, as Jordan was asked to move out of his room to accommodate the baby.

The defense discredited his testimony because it assumes the boy is guilty. On the eve of the hearing, Jordan's father proclaimed the boy's innocence on "Good Morning America," fueling emotions in a case that has already scarred two families and drawn national attention.

After the hearing, Mr. Elisco told reporters that an ex-boyfriend of Ms. Houk's was "overheard admitting he killed her to someone," at a friend's party. Mr. Elisco said that information had been turned over to state police, though Trooper Martin, who is leading the investigation, said he was unaware of it.

The ex-boyfriend had an alibi and was ruled out as a suspect, Senior Deputy Attorney General Anthony J. Krastek said.

An admission of guilt is not among the criteria needed to have a case decertified, Mr. Acker and Mr. Elisco said, calling the prosecution's testimony "ridiculous."

Jordan's supporters have said he has a network of supportive family and friends to help him if he were released.

"Assuming the family support will exist if he is found guilty is presumptuous," Dr. O'Brien said. "There has to be some consideration paid to the fact that he has destroyed people and he has destroyed people's lives."

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