Yeah, this one is pretty sickening. I think it more likely that this guy would have died without medical attention than as a direct result of treatment, but that's probably not relevant to the charge anyway. The victim probably died from his wounds, but it sounds more like the idiots who did it intended to rough him up for fun. They had hammers and didn't aim to cave the guy's skull in. Evidently the hospital didn't think it was that serious either, but damn, any serious beating has the potential for this. It would be like popping someone in a bar fight. Even if you were looking for trouble, it's pretty unlikely you meant to kill someone with a punch to the ribs, but it does happen. So they'll get murder, just not premeditated murder. Hopefully they weigh the brutality of the attack, and the intentional targetting of the homeless victims and put the adult away for a good long time. 12 year old isn't even old enough to fall under the YOA, but might get tried that way anyway depending on circumstances. Just sad all around here.