PROVIDENCE — None of the “gap kids” charged with felonies during the 130 days that 17-year-olds were prosecuted as adults will go to trial until the state Supreme Court decides whether to uphold a ruling that dismisses most of those charges, a judge ordered yesterday.

But under the order by Superior Court Presiding Justice Joseph F. Rodgers Jr., state prosecutors will be allowed to pursue steps such as arraigning those teens and setting bail.

Rodgers’ decision follows a sharply worded debate about what prosecutors can do in the wake of a ruling that dismisses felony charges filed against 115 of those teens. The chief public defender decried the “audacity” of the attorney general’s office in trying to proceed with those cases.

And the attorney general accused the chief public defender of being “disingenuous,” saying prosecutors were not trying to bring the cases to conclusion.

In yesterday’s one-page administrative order, Rodgers said that “in the interest of judicial economy and in order to maintain the status quo,” cases involving those teens “shall not be assigned for trial” until the Supreme Court hears the attorney general’s appeal.

Exceptions will be made, however, when “a ‘gap kid’ moves in the Superior Court for a speedy trial” or when, after a hearing, a teen is waived out of Family Court and into Superior Court.

Also, Rodgers said prosecutors could proceed in Superior Court with “prosecutorial responsibilities” such as “arraigning defendants, addressing bail, setting conditions of relief, and conducting bail violation hearings.”

Motions may be filed challenging the jurisdiction of the Superior Court to handle “gap kid” cases, but there won’t be hearings on those motions until the Supreme Court rules on the appeal, Rodgers said.

In July, the General Assembly adopted Governor Carcieri’s budget proposal to save money by treating all 17-year-olds as adults in criminal matters. But the savings turned out to be questionable, at best, and in November the legislature repealed the law without making the repeal retroactive. That created a group of about 500 “gap kids” charged as adults between July 1 and Nov. 8.

Last week, Superior Court Judge Daniel A. Procaccini dismissed the felony charges filed against 115 of those teens, saying they should have had Family Court hearings to determine if probable cause existed to charge them with crimes in Superior Court.

But Procaccini agreed to put his ruling on hold for 20 days so the attorney general’s office could appeal to the Supreme Court, and the attorney general has appealed.

Yesterday, chief public defender John J. Hardiman declined to comment on Rodgers’ order.

Attorney general’s office spokesman Michael J. Healey said, “We appreciate this order, and, of course, we will comply with it. We think the presiding justice has laid out a process that will inject fairness and order into chaos.”

Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch “thinks the process wins because cases continue to move along without being disposed of,” Healey said.

“And if anything can be construed as good news for victims and their family members, this is good news.”

efitzpat@projo.com