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Published April 24, 2006 12:00 am - COLUMBUS, Kan. - Lawyers representing two of the five students who were arrested Thursday after an alleged Columbine-like plot for Riverton High School surfaced on the Internet still have no information about what to expect today when bond hearings are conducted in Cherokee County District Court for each student. Lawyers: State mum on Riverton teens' case The Joplin Globe By Wally Kennedy
Globe Staff Writer COLUMBUS, Kan. - Lawyers representing two of the five students who were arrested Thursday after an alleged Columbine-like plot for Riverton High School surfaced on the Internet still have no information about what to expect today when bond hearings are conducted in Cherokee County District Court for each student. The hearings will start at 2 p.m. before District Judge John Fleming, who early Saturday signed a sealed affidavit stating there was probable cause to believe a crime was committed. Without the affidavit, the students could not remain in custody beyond 48 hours without charges being filed. Sam Marsh, the attorney representing James Tillman, 16, said Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline's office "is in control of the situation right now," and that he does not know how the state intends to pursue its case against his client. "We are going to show up and see what happens," Marsh said Sunday. "What charges they were going to file should have been done by Friday. We can't tell the state how to pursue its case. I am assuming they have reasons they are doing it this way." Marsh said it will be up to the judge whether the hearings will be closed to the public. Fleming on Friday approved orders granting writs of habeas corpus for two of the suspects - Tillman and Caleb Byrd, 16 - so that the court can determine whether they have been lawfully incarcerated. The court is to take up the bond hearings and habeas corpus orders in one proceeding today. Byrd is being represented by attorney Eddie Battitori, who could not be reached for comment Sunday. JoAnna Derfelt, the attorney for a 15-year-old suspect, on Sunday said, "I still have not received any further information regarding any plans the attorney general's office has for tomorrow's hearing." Whether the hearing will be open to the public is "up to the judge," Marsh said. "Certain cases are open to the public, and certain cases are not. Court files can or cannot be opened because of the age of the people involved. I'm really not sure about how the judge will handle this." Derfelt, whose client has not been identified in any public court document, said Saturday that she was "surprised by the lack of courtesy information in this case," referring to the lack of details she has been given by prosecutors about her client's case. Marsh on Sunday said: "I am not surprised nobody has contacted me. They don't have to, and I am not surprised they haven't. All that I know is that as of 5 p.m. Friday, formal changes had not been filed with the court. That's the last information I have." The students were arrested after details of the alleged plot appeared on the Web site www.myspace.com, and after the former girlfriend of one of the juvenile boys communicated via the Internet with a girl in North Carolina, telling her that the boy had suggested that violence at the school was being planned for April 20. The girl in North Carolina informed authorities there, and they notified the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department. The students reportedly planned to wear black trench coats and disable the school's camera system before starting the attack between noon and 1 p.m. Thursday, the anniversary of the massacre in 1999 at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. 
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