A 17-year-old Westminster-area boy will be treated as a juvenile on charges stemming from two incidents in January in which he was accused of brandishing a loaded shotgun and using racial slurs, a Circuit Court judge ruled yesterday.

Lee Edward Hensley of the 500 block of Old Baltimore St. was charged as an adult when he was arrested Jan. 19 on 15 charges, including first-degree assault. He has been held since then at the Carroll County Detention Center.

The first incident occurred New Year's Day on Montclaire Drive in Eldersburg, when a teen-ager fired a shotgun into the air, approached two youths in a car and aimed at a passenger's head, according to charging documents.

In a Jan. 19 incident on Abraham Court in Eldersburg, Hensley is accused of brandishing a loaded shotgun at a young black man visiting friends at the home of Hensley's girlfriend, according to police and court records.

County juvenile justice investigators recommended that the case be handled by the juvenile system, where Hensley could be housed in one of several facilities. The investigators wrote, " ... involvement with a loaded shotgun in two separate occasions, coupled with deep-rooted racial animosities driving the confrontations with the victims, is a recipe for disaster."

Defense attorney Kenneth D. Man argued successfully that Hensley has not had the benefits of the juvenile justice system's programs, as the juvenile investigators found, but has had a taste of adult jail. Man noted Hensley's small size and disputed allegations in the case, noting that two of the three alleged victims are white and calling the charges extreme.

Hensley read a statement asking Judge Luke K. Burns Jr. "to charge me as a juvenile," apologizing "for taking up your time," and saying, "I am a kid trying to make it in a man's world."

Senior State's Attorney David P. Daggett objected vehemently, saying Hensley has shown no remorse and is a threat to public safety. The prosecution will seek incarceration, wherever the case is heard, he vowed.

"Sometimes when a case like this gets a little publicity, it's the fashionable thing to handle the case in the adult court," Burns commented, saying he would follow guidelines set by appellate courts for juveniles.