FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Broward County prosecutors said Friday they have offered to try as a juvenile a 12-year-old boy accused of fatally beating his toddler cousin, if he pleads guilty to second-degree murder.

Police say the boy, whose name is being withheld because he is a minor, struck 17-month-old Shaloh Joseph to death with a baseball bat while he was baby-sitting her on Jan. 4.

If he accepts the deal, the boy would go to a juvenile facility for 1½ to 3 years before being released on probation, prosecutor Maria Schneider told Circuit Judge Charlie Kaplan during a hearing Friday.

Prosecutors could still take the case to a grand jury if the offer is rejected, but both sides have said they do not want to rush. They agreed Friday to extend until Feb. 18 the deadline for prosecutors to decide whether to charge the boy as an adult or juvenile. If he is charged with first-degree murder and later convicted, he would face a mandatory life term.

Shaloh's family have said they want the boy to be tried in the juvenile system.

Also on Friday, lawyers on both sides disagreed about a medical examiner's findings, which have not been made public because the investigation is ongoing.

Schneider, the prosecutor, said in court that one of Shaloh's injuries may have been caused by being hit against a wall. However, the boy's public defenders, Sandra Perlman and Gordon Weekes, said the doctor's findings suggested none of the injuries were caused by a baseball bat, but rather that Shaloh may have been hit against a hard surface.