A Bermudian teenager charged with beating to death an American man is at the centre of a legal fight to be tried as a child in the US state of Delaware.

Joshua Holder, 16, who now lives in Dover with his mother Mrs. Dawn Madeiros, faces a second-degree murder charge in the slaying of 20-year-old Michael Keesser this summer at a neighbourhood party which turned violent, it was learned yesterday.

His father, Mr. Charles Holder of Smith's Parish, is flying out on Saturday to be with him at a Monday court hearing to decide whether he should be treated as a juvenile or an adult.

Holder's lawyer, Mr. Andre Beauregard, told The Royal Gazette : "I believe he didn't do it.'' It was his case that an altercation erupted at the party involving two dozen people and as the fight progressed "it ended up that someone died'', he said.

"Dover Police rounded up people they thought were involved.'' Under a new Delaware statute, any juvenile over the age of 14 who faces charges of murder one or two or of sexual assault can be tried as an adult, Mr. Beauregard said.

Previously juveniles were always tried in family court, where the maximum penalty for murder is incarceration until the age 18.

If tried in adult court, Holder could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Autopsy reports showed Keesser died of a ruptured spleen, Mr. Beauregard said.

The party was held at the home of Holder's sister's boyfriend on Denneys Road, media reports said.

Dover Police found Keesser severely beaten and laying unconscious on the front lawn of the home at about midnight on Friday, August 19.

Two days later they arrested Holder and two other teenagers, aged 16 and 18, and interviewed them. All three have been charged with second-degree murder and conspiracy and were held in lieu of $22,000 bail.

Holder is now out on bail.

Police told the Wilmington News Journal that they had not determined a specific motive for the slaying, but that Keesser was punched and kicked by several people after a fight broke out during the party.

The newspaper said Holder was living at the unit-block home where the party was held.

The other two charged with the fatal beating are James Bonds, 19, and James Mayhall, 16.

The Journal said Keesser had graduated last year from a local high school and was employed at a roofing company in Dover. His grandfather said he had never heard Michael mention any of the three teenagers accused of beating him to death.