Charges delayed in alleged school plot

The Joplin Globe

April 22, 2006 01:48 am

— By Roger McKinney
Globe Staff Writer
COLUMBUS, Kan. - Charges aren't expected until next week for five teenage boys arrested with an alleged plot to go on a shooting rampage at Riverton School.
A judge on Friday approved an order requested by attorneys for two of the boys that requires them to be presented in court on Monday.
Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline said Thursday at the Cherokee County Courthouse that charges would be filed Friday. He staged a press conference late Friday afternoon in Topeka to say that it was premature to file charges because evidence was still being collected, according to the Associated Press.
Assistant Attorney General Andrew Bauch was in Columbus working on the case Friday.
Two 16-year-old boys, two 17-year-old boys and an 18-year-old man were arrested Thursday after the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department uncovered the alleged plot.
A message posted on MySpace.com caught the attention of school officials on Tuesday, said David Walters, school superintendent. The message urged students to celebrate Adolf Hitler's birthday and the anniversary of the Columbine High School shootings on Thursday by wearing bulletproof vests to school. School officials identified and talked with the student who posted the message, but determined that there was no specific threat in the information.
Walters said rumors circulated widely in the hallways on Wednesday, prompting more discussions between school officials and students. He wrote in a memo released after school Thursday that officials had instituted unspecified actions to further ensure the safety of pupils on Thursday. The Cherokee County Sheriff's Department contacted him shortly afterward.
Sheriff Steve Norman said Thursday that a girl in North Carolina on Wednesday had contacted the Sheriff's Department in her jurisdiction about threats she learned about while communicating with someone on MySpace.com. It was not clear Friday whether the girl was communicating with one of the suspects or an intended victim, or someone on the periphery of the case. The Sheriff's Department in North Carolina contacted the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department and authorities in Cherokee County also talked with the girl.
Norman said the girl provided information about specific threats of a planned shooting at the Riverton School on Thursday. Investigators also interviewed students who identified themselves as intended victims of the shooting spree, he said. School lockers were searched, uncovering evidence of a plot, Norman said.
Two of the boys were arrested at 12:30 a.m. Thursday at their homes. Two others were arrested about 6 a.m. The fifth arrest was at 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the school.
Norman said Thursday that two of the suspects' houses were searched, and guns and knives were found in one of the houses.
Labette County District Judge Robert Fleming, who has been assigned to the case, on Friday approved orders granting writ of habeus corpus for students Caleb Byrd and James Tillman, both 16.
The orders require the two to be presented in Cherokee County District Court at 2 p.m. Monday.
Attorney Eddie Battitori filed the petition for his client, Byrd. Attorney Sam Marsh filed the petition on behalf of Tillman.
Both orders state that the boys appear to be imprisoned illegally.
Battitori on Friday said he was frustrated with the delay.
"They don't have a judge here," Battitori said, noting Fleming's absence and questioning how an initial court appearance could occur if the judge wasn't present.
Attorney JoAnna Derfelt represents another of the boys, but she declined to identify her client before charges were filed. Battitori and Marsh also did not reveal the names of their clients when asked.
"I think any delay in getting a child released from custody is not right," Derfelt said Friday when it became apparent that the boys would not be charged that day.
"We have not been provided any information about the delay."
Marsh said he also was frustrated with the attorney general's office.
"I certainly think they have had two days to get charges filed," Marsh said.
He said he filed the petition for habeus corpus because of his concern for a juvenile being held without charges.
Asked when the boys would have to be released if charges were not filed, Derfelt said: "It depends on who you ask."
She said the law requires a detention hearing within 48 hours of an arrest, but that doesn't include weekends or holidays.
Marsh and Derfelt about 7 p.m. Friday said they had not been notified of a detention hearing.
Tillman, Byrd and the other two juveniles were being held at the juvenile detention center in Girard. The 18-year-old was being held at the Cherokee County Jail. A jail employee, after checking with Norman, on Friday declined a reporter's request to inspect the jail roster, which is a public record.
High-profile case
Cherokee County Attorney Michael Goodrich on Friday said he turned the case over to the attorney general's office because he can use the resources of his office and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. "The KBI can apply its resources, expertise and experience with what is obviously a high-profile, press-driven event," Goodrich said.

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