RENO COUNTY – In October, the Kansas Supreme Court denied the state’s request that 17-year-old Sam Vanochen, convicted of murder in the arson fire death that killed his mother and sister, be moved to an adult jail from the Reno County Juvenile Detention Facility.

The state also asked the court to block another mental evaluation and sentence the teen for his conviction.

The teen is still waiting to have a new mental evaluation completed.

Attorneys say they will wait until after March 17, when Vanochen turns 18 and transfer him to the adult side of the Larned State Hospital for new mental evaluation.

Under Kansas law, he has to be moved out of the juvenile facility in Hutchinson when he turns 18.

A Reno County jury convicted the teen of the two counts of murder for the killing of his mother and sister who died after he set fire to the family home on Sept. 26, 2013.

He was also convicted for attempted first-degree murder for trying to kill his father and aggravated arson for setting of the fire.