A judge has cleared the way to move 11-year-old murder suspect Jordan Anthony Brown from the Lawrence County Jail to a juvenile facility in Beaver County.

Lawrence County President Judge Dominick Motto has signed a transfer order that will allow Jordan to be moved to the Allencrest Juvenile Detention Center in Beaver. The transfer will occur as soon as Allencrest is ready to accept him.

Lawrence County District Attorney John Bongivengo and Jordan's public defender, Dennis Elisco, agreed that the county jail is not the place for such a young defendant.

"Our jail is not really equipped to meet the needs of an 11-year-old," Mr. Bongivengo said this afternoon. "I know he is considered an adult under the law, but he is an 11-year-old."

Mr. Elisco filed a petition for the transfer, and Judge Motto quickly approved it.

The move is a precursor to a bond hearing scheduled Monday for Jordan, who is charged with shooting his father's pregnant girlfriend to death last week. Mr. Elisco wants Jordan to be freed from confinement pending further court action.

Jordan is being held in isolation at the county jail in New Castle, but Mr. Elisco says he should be released because he is not a flight risk and does not face the death penalty, because of his age. An adult charged with a capital offense cannot be released on bond.

Jordan is charged with two counts of homicide in the killings of Kenzie Marie Houk, 26, and her unborn child. She was to give birth in early March. Investigators contend that Jordan shot the woman as she lay in bed Friday morning, possibly because of jealously over his merged family.

Jordan was raised by his father, Christopher Brown, and his grandmother, but had recently moved with his father to a farmhouse with Ms. Houk and her two daughters.

Mr. Elisco, in a bond petition filed in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court last night, asked for a "reasonable and appropriate" bond for Jordan.

To deny bail, Mr. Elisco said, the court must show that the boy faces life in prison and has a strong motivation to flee.

"But proof of a minor child's guilt is not evident; the presumption of guilt is not great; and at this point it is unlikely that this 11-year-old defendant will face life in prison," Mr. Elicso wrote.

He said Jordan is not a flight risk because he has no money and no transportation and has strong ties to his community.

Judge Motto will take up the matter at the bond hearing at 9 a.m. Monday.