Teen convicted of murdering family to remain in psych hospital

The Medicine Hat teenage girl convicted of killing her parents and younger brother will remain in apsychiatric institution, a judge ruled Wednesday.

The 15-year-old, who can't be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, appeared by closed circuit television in a Medicine Hat courtroom Wednesday morning for her annual sentence review.

The hearing, in front of Justice Scott Brooker, lasted less than 30 minutes.

Brooker ruled thatthe girl will remain in custody at the Alberta Hospital in Edmonton. Her nextannual sentence review is scheduled for November, two years from the date of her conviction.

Teen making progress: reports

The teenager, dressed in a dark blue crewneck sweater, appeared on video from theEdmonton Young Offenders Centre, where she was accompanied by a psychiatrist, a psychologist and a case worker.

She stood silently, looking at the monitor for most of the brief discussion, nodding when both the Crown and defence lawyers indicated that there should be no change in her custody status.

Reports indicate the girl is making progress in her treatment, but further work is indicated. No other details concerning her treatment or more specifics of what progress she is making were presented in court.

"It appears in this case there has been some progress in terms of treatment, and so we're going to let the professionals continue with the treatment progress that they've made so far and see where it takes us," said her lawyer Katerin Beyakoutside of court. "She's on board with treatment and is happy that things seem to be going well."

Canada's youngest convicted killer

The girl was found guilty in July 2008 of three counts of first-degree murder for killing her mother, father and eight-year-old brother in their Medicine Hat home on April 22, 2006, whenshe was 12 years old.

Labelled Canada's youngest convicted killer, she was given credit for the 18 months she had already spent in custody, meaning she received the maximum sentence of 10 years.

The girl received a rarely used type of sentence, known as the intensive rehabilitative custody and supervision sentence, which means she will spend her first four years in a psychiatric hospital, instead of a youth detention centre.

To qualify for the sentence, which is set out under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, a young offender must be diagnosed with some form of mental disorder or emotional disturbance.

Her boyfriend at the time, Jeremy Steinke, was sentencedto the automatic minimum prison term of life with no chance of parole for 25 years for his role in the killings.A jury found the 25-year-old guilty of three counts of first-degree murder in December.