Simi Teen Pleads Not Guilty in Mother’s Fatal Stabbing
A 15-year-old Royal High School student pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges that he stabbed his mother to death in their Simi Valley home earlier this month.
At the arraignment hearing in Ventura County Superior Court, prosecutors added a special allegation of lying in wait to the murder charge that would make Jason Leon Amico eligible for a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Amico was arrested May 1 at a relative’s residence in Van Nuys. Less than two hours earlier, Reina Amico, 41, was stabbed several times in the chest at her home in the 1600 block of Blackwall Drive. Police have said other relatives were at the Amico home at the time.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 14.
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