Teen who killed family could move to group home

Canada's youngest multiple killer is progressing in her studies and therapy and could be moved to a supervised home in Calgary.

The girl who was 12 when she killed her parents and younger brother in their Medicine Hat, Alta., home in 2006 undergoes a review of her 10-year sentence every six months in front of a judge.

Now 16, the girlis scoring an average of 80 per cent inacademiccore subjects and is also doing well in her therapy sessions, according to a report by hercase worker and doctor on Wednesday.

"It shows that the system's working and I know that sounds clich but basically a lot of resources have been put into this very unique situation and the system as well as my client seem to be responding appropriately," said the girl's lawyer, Katherin Beyak.

The teen, who cannot be identified under law, is being considered for placement in a supervised setting such as a group home, foster home or assisted living in Calgary later this summer,Justice Scott Brooker heard.

Under her10-year sentence the maximum under youth law the teenhas been undergoing intensive rehabilitation at the Alberta Hospital in Edmonton instead of a youth detention centre.

The original sentence outlined four years of rehabilitation followed by 4 years of conditional supervision in the community but Beyak explained those timelines are not set in stone.

"The purpose of the [intensive rehabilitationcustody and supervision] sentence is to do a gradual reintegration, and so the sentence can be adjusted to allow for things like completion of high school, then beginning to learn social tasks like banking,moving on then to getting a job and learning to live independently," she said.

The girl appeared via closed-circuit television wearing a white blouse with her brown hair down to her elbows.

The only time she spoke was at the end of the hearing when the judge asked if she had anything to add. "No, thank you," she replied.

Family stabbed to death

The girl and her boyfriend at the time of the murders,Jeremy Steinke, 23, plotted the stabbing deaths of her mother, father and eight-year-old brother.

The pair felt the girl's parents stood in the way of their relationship.

'I think this next step in the transition is critical. How will society respond to her? How will she respond to being back in society?' Ramona Robins, Crown prosecutor

In separate trials, the girl and Steinke were each convicted of three counts of first-degree murder. Steinke was sentenced to an automatic life term with no chance of parole for 25 years.

At her last review in November, Brooker relaxed her closed custody to an open arrangement thatallows the girl to go for escorted walks on the grounds of the psychiatric hospital and eventually to banks and shopping malls.

That hearing heard the girl was making progress in therapy but was lagging in accepting the severity of her crimes. Crown prosecutor Ramona Robins said her concerns over that issue were addressed in this latest report.

"I think this next step in the transition is critical. How will society respond to her? How will she respond to being back in society? How will everyday occurrences that you andI go through affect her?" Robins said Wednesday of the girl who has been in custody since she was 12.

"I think it's crucial and we'll know more in the next six months if that's been an easy transition or not."