MOBILE, Ala. (WPMI) — Cailee Knight was asleep in her living room last December when shots were fired into her Mobile home, killing the 9-year-old little girl.

"This is a completely tragic case where a child lost her life, and it just didn't have to happen," said Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood.

Extra security was in court Tuesday as the five capital murder suspects accused of killing her appeared for a hearing. Ariel Curry, 23, pleaded not guilty. The other four suspects, Tyrone Williams, Darius Lucky, Ricki Thier, and Amia Bantz, will all have youthful offender hearings early next year because they are all under the age of 21. If a judge grants that, the maximum penalty would be three years in custody and their criminal records would be wiped clean. Blackwood says his office is adamantly opposed.

"Some of them were involved in multiple shootings in the same day. This was shooting into a house in order to kill someone. A child died. So based on the circumstances, we will be arguing against youthful offender," said Blackwood.

The youthful offender hearing is scheduled for January 22, 2025, at 1:30 p.m. in Judge Brooks' courtroom.

Blackwood says after careful consideration and consulting with Cailee's family, the decision was made not to seek the death penalty. Blackwood says while the victim's age is a qualifying factor, the fact she was not the target of the shooting complicates a death penalty case.

"We did not feel like we were on good legal footing in order to seek the death penalty. When we try these cases, when we try death penalty cases, we have to consider about 30 years worth of appeals, and so we felt that it was important to be on good legal footing so that should we get convictions in these cases, they would not be overturned," said Blackwood.

If the four suspects do not get youthful offender status and all five are found guilty of capital murder, they would face life in prison without the possibility of parole.