A hearing was held today on whether a teenager should be tried as an adult on charges of raping and murdering his Ewa Beach neighbor last year, but the judge did not issue a ruling.

Family Court Circuit Judge Frances Wong held the closed-door hearing for the boy charged with sexually assaulting and strangling Karen Ertell, 51, whose body was found at her home May 2 last year.

The judge took the matter under advisement and could issue a decision as early as next week. If the teenager, 15 at the time of the killing, is tried and convicted as a juvenile in Family Court, he could be held under state law until he reaches age 19.

If tried and convicted as an adult, he would face a mandatory life term without parole, the state's harshest sentence.