Christine Rogers was being held in juvenile detention Tuesday pending a grand jury's decision, expected next week, on whether she should be indicted and tried as an adult in the death Saturday of Ashley Harvey, 15.

Assistant State Attorney David Rimmer said he will seek a first-degree murder indictment. The only penalty possible under that charge is life in prison without parole.

Three other children ranging in age from 12 to 15 have been indicted on first-degree murder charges in Escambia County during the past two years.

They including brothers Alex and Derek King, who were 12 and 13 when they killed their father with a baseball bat in November 2001. The King brothers pleaded guilty to lesser charges of third-degree murder after a judge threw out their second-degree murder convictions.

Alex, who will turn 14 on Saturday, is serving seven years and Derek, now 15, eight years in juvenile prisons. Daniel Carter, 15 when charged with the July 2002 stabbing death of his uncle, is awaiting trial.

"I don't see any reason right now to treat it any differently than the King and Carter cases," Rimmer said. "I'll be getting the hateful e-mail stuff again, I'm sure, but I'm used to it by now."

Opponents of prosecuting and punishing children as adults rallied to support the King boys, who in the end admitted murdering their father, and Carter, now 16, who says he killed in self defense.

Relations between Ashley and Christine had been on and off for some time, said Laporsha Bradley, 13, a friend and neighbor.

"They'd talk for one day," she said. "They'd be mad the next day. They'd talk the next week."

Ashley sang in the choir at the Greater Little Rock Baptist Church. Pamela Stallworth, a former choir director, recalled often seeing her with Christine, who was not a church member.

"I knew they were friends," she said. "They were always together."

That close relationship made it all the more difficult for friends to understand what happened Saturday.

Police said Christine chased Ashley with a butcher knife and cut her throat after the girls tossed fireworks at each other.

Ashley, 6 feet tall and more than 200 pounds, zigzagged between houses trying to get away from Christine, who is 5-feet, 7-inches tall and weighs about 135 pounds, Laporsha said.

"I saw Christine chasing Ashley," the teen said. "She was calling her 'fat' and 'big.' She was yelling 'Ashley, you're going to die tonight.' "

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Information from: Pensacola News Journal, http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com

AP-ES-07-08-03 1835EDT