Robert Jobe, 15, will be tried as an adult for the shooting death of a Toledo police officer, according to the decision of retired Lucas County Juvenile Court Judge James Ray today.

Jobe will be immediately transferred to the Lucas County Jail where he will be held on $500,000 bond.

Throughout the morning as attorneys gave closing arguments, the teen sat as he did during most of the hearings, quietly and with his head down.

Assistant county prosecutor Dean Mandros said the issue was not how sad the boy looks but whether he could be rehabilitated in less than six years and, just as importantly, community safety. He noted that after the shooting, the boy, whom he called "a creature of the streets," had wiped down his gun and negotiated the terms of his surrender.

But defense attorney Ann Baronas urged Judge Ray to keep the boy in the juvenile justice system where he could be rehabilitated before his 21st birthday.

"The right thing to do in this case is the hard thing to do," she said.

The Jobe youth has admitted to police that he shot Toledo vice Detective Keith Dressel during a struggle about 2 a.m. Feb. 21, but claimed it was an accident.

If the Jobe youth is tried and found delinquent as a juvenile for aggravated murder, he most likely would be released on his 21st birthday. A conviction in adult court could put him behind bars for the rest of his life.

Read more in later editions of The Blade and toledoblade.com.

First Published June 11, 2007, 5:36 p.m.