ST. JOHNS, Ariz. -- Prosecutors have offered a plea deal to an 8-year-old boy charged with murder in the shooting deaths of his father and another man in their St. Johns home.

WATCH: Accused Killer, 8, Offered Deal

Complete details of the offer aren't spelled out in a court filing posted on the Apache County Superior Court's Web site on Saturday.

But Apache County Attorney Chriss Candelaria writes that he has "tendered a plea offer to the juvenile's attorneys that would resolve all the charges in the juvenile court contingent on the results of the mental health evaluations."

CBS 5 News spoke with one of the boy's attorneys who said they're not making any decisions or statements about the plea offer until those mental evaluations come back.

Candelaria was responding to a defense motion seeking to block him from dropping one of two first-degree murder charges the boy is facing for the Nov. 5 shooting deaths of his father, 29-year-old Vincent Romero, and 39-year-old Timothy Romans.

The boy is back in police custody after the court allowed him a 48-hour furlough to spend Thanksgiving with his mother.

Defense attorney Benjamin Brewer argued in a Nov. 25 filing that prosecutors wanted the charge dismissed so they could refile it when the boy was older and press the case in adult court.

Brewer said Saturday that the deal would resolve the case without it being transferred to adult court, although he declined to provide additional details. Although he is considering the offer, Brewer said he is unsure of his client's ability to understand the proceedings. At least two mental health evaluations are yet to be completed.

"It is going to be difficult to assess what (the boy) can or cannot enter into," Brewer said on Saturday. "But certainly we're looking at it."

In Arizona, those convicted as juveniles can only be held until they turn 18. The law allows prosecutions of juveniles age 8 and above as adults.

The prosecutor explained in his response to Brewer's opposition filing that he wasn't trying to obtain an unfair advantage, but pressed for the dismissal because the judicial system just isn't equipped to deal with an 8-year-old charged with murder.

"It is done to ensure that the juvenile and the two murder victims in this case do not fall through the cracks in the system that might occur if both charges remain in the pending delinquency petition," Candelaria wrote.

Candelaria explained that the boy could be found incompetent to stand trial, and if that happened, the court's options would be limited.

The court would be required to order efforts to restore the boy to competency, but if that couldn't be done within about eight months, the judge would be required by law to dismiss the criminal case and bar it from being refiled.

The court would then be required to initiate civil commitment proceedings, Candelaria wrote. If the boy is found incompetent because of his age, he wouldn't fit the definition of a mentally disordered person and no treatment would be available.

"Such a result denies the victims and public of any sense of justice for these heinous murders," Candelaria wrote. "It also denies the juvenile the rehabilitative services that he apparently needs to both deal with why he was capable of committing these murders and to assist him with the grief and remorse that he is probably feeling."

Police in the small eastern Arizona town of St. Johns found Romero and Romans shot to death after the boy ran to a neighbor's house on the afternoon of Nov. 5. He was questioned after Romans' wife raised suspicions about him the next day, and in a videotape released by prosecutors he admits pulling the trigger. Romans worked with Romero and rented a room in his home.

Each man was shot several times with a single-shot, bolt-action .22-caliber rifle.

His grandmother told police that if any 8-year-old was capable of the crimes, it was him. Police reports say the boy told a state Child Protective Services worker that his 1,000th spanking would be his last.

The next court hearing is set for Dec. 8.

Police records reveal that investigators considered several other possibilities for the double slaying. Officers said they looked into whether the home had been burglarized and if either victim had problems at work, but quickly narrowed the case to the boy, records stated.

His stepmom Tiffany also spoke to police about a possible incident with the boy's biological mother. A commander's report said, "Tiffany told me about a police report that was filed approximately three years ago regarding Eryn possibly kidnapping (the boy)."

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