CASTLE ROCK — The 17-year-old junior who set off a smoke bomb near Ponderosa High School on the anniversary of the Columbine massacre 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 facts have shown this was a juvenile act,” Wareham said.
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 — all felonies — as well as a misdemeanor count of interference with school staff.
He could have been sentenced to years in prison if convicted. He could face identical charges in juvenile court, but with lesser penalties.
He also retains the opportunity to request that his juvenile record remained sealed, said Assistant District Attorney Leslie Hansen, who agreed to move the case to juvenile court, citing the threat evaluation.
The district office made the decision after consulting with school officials and violence psychologist John Nicoletti, a noted author and consultant who did the mental evaluation of the boy.
Hansen would not discuss the specifics of the report, except to say Nicoletti found the boy was no “avenger.”
Instead, she characterized him as “a kid who used extremely poor judgment.”
On the eighth anniversary of the Columbine shootings this year, authorities evacuated and searched the school after a device, made with household cleaning products, went off on a hill behind the school.
When the boy was questioned, he had supplies in his backpack to make another device.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
