CASTLE ROCK — The 17-year-old junior who set off a smoke bomb near Ponderosa High School on the anniversary of the Columbine shootings is not a threat, the courts decided Tuesday.
With a psychological assessment that showed little threat of violence in the boy, Douglas County Judge Paul King dismissed a battery of adult charges on the condition the case be refiled in juvenile court. The boy is not named because he is a juvenile.
His lawyer, Robert Wareham, hoped a plea deal could be reached.
The teenager was charged with felony counts of possession of an explosive device, possession of incendiary parts and unlawful possession of a weapon on school grounds as well as a misdemeanor count of interference with school staff.
In April, on the eighth anniversary of the Columbine shootings, authorities evacuated and searched the school after a device, made with household cleaning products, went off on a hill behind the school.
