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If anyone could have been locked away for the rest of his life it was Cody Posey.

The Hondo boy was 14 on a warm summer day in 2004 when he pulled a .38-caliber handgun from his stepsister's saddlebag and shot his father in the head near the refrigerator. He put two bullets in his stepmother's head as she read a book on the living room couch. Then he shot his 13-year-old stepsister twice in the face "so she wouldn't go tell or nothing."

But with a decision last April that would rock an Alamogordo courtroom and beyond with both angry tears and joyful peals of "Thank you, Jesus!" state District Judge Waylon Counts apparently found some judicial merit in believing that somewhere deep inside there was something worth salvaging in Posey.

He found Posey "amenable."

That crucial decision meant Posey, then 16, would receive a juvenile sentence instead of adult sanctions.

It meant Posey would receive rehabilitative treatment in the custody of the state Children, Youth and Families Department until he turned 21 instead of the 60 years he could have faced in an adult prison for convictions of first-degree murder for his stepsister, second-degree murder for his stepmother and voluntary manslaughter for his father.

"The law of the state of New Mexico and not my personal whim or the tide of public opinion is the basis of my decision today," Counts told the crowded courtroom.

Prosecutor Sandra Grisham had argued, even after Counts rendered his verdict, for adult sanctions, saying Posey was a cold-blooded psychopath who needed to be locked away from society.

"On July 5, 2004, Cody Posey thought he could get away with murder. He did not snap," she had argued during the trial.

But Posey's court-appointed attorney, Gary Mitchell, pleaded passionately with the judge not to throw away another child.

"In this case, it is the overwhelming evidence that he can be treated and he's amenable to treatment," he said.

Posey, he said, had suffered years of abuse and degradation from his father, who he alleged had even tried to push Posey into having sex with his stepmother the night before the killings.

Posey had also been traumatized at an early age by seeing his mother die before his eyes in a car crash, Mitchell said.

"How much do we ask of a 14-year-old child when none of us would have tolerated a tenth of that?" he asked jurors.

Psychiatrist Robert Buser, who testified for the defense on Posey's amenability, opined that the teen's murderous rage was an isolated incident fueled by trauma and abuse and an untreated emotional problem and that he would likely never commit a violent act again.

Other convicted juvenile killers, some who have also suffered abuse and trauma and mental illness, have not been as lucky as Posey.

Colin Gonzales was also 14 when on March 13, 1997, he shot and killed Arsenio Lucero, who had just arrived at his home in Trujillo, N.M., to find it being burglarized by Gonzales and an older teen.

Court documents indicated Gonzales' history of mental illness dated to age 2 and that at the time of the killing he had been off his medication. Despite concerns raised by several psychologists and the judge himself, Gonzales was sentenced to 22 years in an adult prison.

Although the factors in determining amenability are spelled out in state statute, the decision remains an amorphous one, subject to the interpretation and the inclination of the judge.

"Each case is different and each judge is different," said state District Judge Louis McDonald, who has sentenced several juvenile killers to adult time in his Sandoval County courthouse. That includes two 16-year-olds and a 17-year-old charged with the 1994 stabbing deaths of Marie and Ed Brown in their Rio Rancho home after an argument over beer.

"The statute is pretty specific on the kinds of things you're supposed to look at," McDonald said. "But it's still a case-specific thing."

Chief Deputy District Attorney Todd Heisey said his office considers the juvenile offender's age, previous criminal history and the seriousness of the crime as significant factors in determining whether to seek adult sanctions.

But the amenability factor - whether a child is likely to be rehabilitated - is an absolutely crucial component, he said. And that is determined solely by the judge.

"It is one of the hardest decisions I make," said state District Judge Marie Baca, the presiding Children's Court judge in Bernalillo County. "You do not easily decide to put one kid away for a lifetime but let another have that second chance."

To help her make that decision, Baca said she relies in large part on an amenability report - a forensic psychological evaluation that examines the child's potential for rehabilitation.

In Bernalillo County, Luis Vargas is the only clinical and forensic psychologist assigned by the courts to perform such evaluations. Statewide, only three psychologists are contracted to handle such court-ordered evaluations.

"What we do is part of a statute that mandates the provision of these services," said Vargas, who works for the University of New Mexico Juvenile Forensic Evaluation Service.

"There are other people who do amenability studies, but they are contracted for either the prosecution or the defense," he said. "In our case, we are not concerned which side our report favors."

Amenability evaluations are comprehensive and time-consuming, requiring a minimum of 20 hours to complete but often much longer, he said.

"In amenability studies, the stakes are really high," said Vargas, who has performed the evaluations for 3 years. So far, he has conducted about 15 amenability evaluations this year. In a typical year he will do about 25, he said.

"Relatively few of them involve murder," he said. "The crimes involved are interpersonal crimes such as armed robberies, home invasions, threats."

Each evaluation includes information from police reports, court transcripts when available, school and previous psychological reports and criminal histories.

Vargas said he also interviews the juvenile and family members, any witnesses and surviving victims. In addition, he conducts psychological tests on the juvenile and prepares a risk assessment.

"You're always looking for a convergence of data to support the opinion you have," he said.

Vargas said his evaluations use the eight factors laid out in state statute. Those include examining whether the offense was committed in an aggressive, violent, premeditated or willful manner and the sophistication and maturity of the child.

At the crux of the examination - and at the judge's decision - Vargas weighs the likelihood of rehabilitation with the safety of the public.

"None of us can predict future behavior," he said. "All we are saying is, `Is there evidence that exists that can be a prediction of the success of rehabilitation?' "

Vargas said he also considers the amount of time left before a juvenile turns 21 and thus automatically ages out of the juvenile justice system.

"Amenability involves time," he said. "You may have a kid who could be amenable if he were not 19."

Vargas also said youthful offenders who receive adult sentences are not always worse off than those treated as juveniles.

"You could stay in the juvenile system for two years or until you turn 21 or, if not amenable, could receive an adult sentence in which you wear an ankle monitor," he said. "In those two scenarios, which one is more severe?"

In the case of Cody Posey, Judge Counts detailed for the courtroom the weight he gave to each of the factors listed in the youthful offender statute before making his decision.

"If the Legislature wants adult sentences for every 14-year-old convicted of first-degree murder," Counts admonished, "they can change the law."