Columbine jitters may cost a Kansas town millions.

[Drizzt]

Copyright 2002 Kansas City Pitch, LLC
Pitch Weekly (Kansas City KS & Kansas City MO)


May 2, 2002 Thursday

SECTION: News/State Lines

LENGTH: 1157 words

HEADLINE: Tutu Careful
Columbine jitters may cost a Kansas town millions.

BYLINE: By Casey Logan

BODY:
When principal Greg Cartwright appeared on NBC's Today Show in December 1999, he brought good news: A student's warning had thwarted a Columbine-style shoot-up plot in his rural, southeast Kansas high school, saving many lives, perhaps even Cartwright's. Host Matt Lauer listened as Cartwright told how police acted quickly on the Labette High School student's alert. "It was very close," Cartwright said. "And again, I'm very, very thankful that student came forward."

Lauer chimed in, "And our hat's off to that student who came forward." The problem was, that student who came forward would soon declare there was no plot. The black clothing, the 9 mm handguns, the SKS assault rifle, the sawed-off shotgun, the .22-caliber rifles, the explosives -- all were recanted to prosecutors, who had already charged five suspects with eight counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

Now nearly everyone with authority in Altamont, Kansas, and surrounding Labette County has been named a defendant in a $170 million lawsuit filed at the Bob Dole Federal Courthouse in Kansas City, Kansas.

The events leading to that lawsuit began on December 16, 1999, when Dwayne Heiskell and four other students -- Aaron Spencer, Josh Traxson, Jestin McReynolds and Daniel Smith -- sat in Smith's room and discussed how they might commit a rampage through their school. They talked about shooting teachers. They considered how they might attach a snowplow to a derby car and drive it through the hallways. One of them said he would wear a tutu for the occasion.

But no one outside that room will ever know how serious they were. McReynolds claims he approached Heiskell the next day at school after overhearing him recruit another student to take part in the raid. Alarmed by Heiskell's apparent sincerity, McReynolds says he threatened to tell school administrators.

Heiskell beat him to it. At 2:15 p.m., Heiskell sat in the principal's office with his parents and police officers and described how McReynolds, Spencer, Traxson, Smith and another student, Bryan Vail, planned to take over the school the following Monday and execute at least eight predetermined people, including their principal.

By 3 p.m., school officials had contacted the Labette County sheriff, the Kansas Highway Patrol, the county prosecutor's office and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. In the wake of Columbine, no one thought they could be too careful.

Late that night, police arrived at the Smith house and began to search for weapons. They arrested Smith and Traxson, and they handcuffed Smith's younger sister, Kendra, and her friend Mallory Sanders. Meanwhile, more than fifty officers from various police agencies conducted searches and arrested the other students Heiskell had named.

In the following days, Cartwright, prosecutor Robert Forer and Sheriff William Blundell each revealed details of the alleged plan to the media. They said dozens of guns were seized from each of the boys' homes, in addition to documents bearing the expression "4:20." That's stoner's code for a time of day to smoke pot, but investigators thought first of April 20, 1999 -- the date Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered thirteen people at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.

By February 2000, the Altamont Five had spent time in the Southeast Kansas Juvenile Detention Center in Girard and in a county jail in Oswego. Doubts about the Altamont Five's guilt arose back at Labette High. Some students wore armbands in support of the suspects.

Prosecutors and investigators proceeded with the case against the five students, though there was considerable reason to doubt Heiskell's statement. It was no secret at school that Heiskell had personal problems stemming from his home life and that he took the medications Dexedrine and Risperdal to control personality disorders, according to the lawsuits. The month before the Altamont Five arrests, he was kicked out of principal Cartwright's home, where he had been living, for drug and alcohol use and for violating curfew, the lawsuits say.

On January 19, 2000, Heiskell had a run-in with his ex-girlfriend, Mallory Sanders, at a school dance. Sanders confronted him and demanded that he tell police the truth. When prosecutors found out that Sanders had shoved Heiskell during their conversation, they charged her with intimidating a witness, a felony.

A few weeks later, Heiskell overdosed on drugs and alcohol and was rushed to a hospital by ambulance. He was listed under the name John Doe to prevent the incident from becoming public. Soon thereafter, Heiskell told prosecutors there had never been a massacre plot.

But Robert Forer was not ready to release the teen-age suspects. The prosecutor instead waited until April 2000 to drop the conspiracy charges; even then, he made no apologies for the way the suspects were treated. "I'm not trying to drum up sympathy for these kids because I don't have any sympathy for them," he told reporters. "What they did was just unquestionably unacceptable. Law enforcement doesn't owe them an apology. They owe the community an apology."

In April 2001, the five students, Mallory Sanders and their parents filed suit for $170 million. Each plaintiff seeks $10 million. The federal suit lists as defendants the city, county, school board, superintendent, principal, prosecutor, chief of police and three other law-enforcement officers.

Almost all the defendants argue that, right or wrong, they didn't violate any of the students' rights in responding to what was perceived as a credible threat. The defense won a small victory on March 22, 2002, when Judge Carlos Murguia dismissed three of the nine counts against a few of the defendants, including Principal Cartwright and Superintendent Dennis Wilson.

The lawsuit makes the harshest claims against the small town's police chief, James Barber. Barber had it in for the boys and would often harass them as they traveled around town, the plaintiffs claim. They also accuse Barber of disparaging them to the Altamont City Council.

"After several years of being harassed by Barber, the five plaintiff boys had lost all respect for Barber," the lawsuit says. "They began to exercise their First Amendment rights to criticize government officials by the use of hand gestures and by making rude comments to Barber."

They gave him the bird. The plaintiffs' parents, on the other hand, sent letters of complaint to the city council and the ACLU.

They also make 14th Amendment claims that the school and local authorities denied them their liberties.

Neither the Altamont Five nor their parents have commented on the pending lawsuit other than to release statements in which they slam local authorities for staging a minimal investigation and denounce their treatment. "Anymore, we are becoming more like Nazi Germany than we are like the United States," one such statement says.

LOAD-DATE: May 2, 2002

[jwise]

So, what this article is saying is that all of our predictions regarding 1-800-DIAL-A-NARC are true?

Well- pardon me for not being shocked...

[LonWilson]

HA HA!

[Dagny]

Could somebody explain, or point to a place that explains, just what it takes to be guilty of "conspiracy". Does sitting around and talking constitute "conspiracy"? Does it take some other action? I'm afraid that the number of gun owners who shoot the bull about a variety of subjects could be as "guilty of conspiracy" as these kids were charged with.

[CITADELGRAD87]

I don't practice Criminal law, but a conspiracyt requires


A) The plan , has to be something illegal

and

B) At least 1 "overt act" in furtherance of the plan, ie, buying a gun, making a list of things needed, etc.

It's been a long time since criminal procedure, so any practicing criminal attorneys feel free to correct me.

[KSFreeman]

Dagny, Citadel had it for the most part. However, an act to aid the conspiracy can be lawful (I plan to buy black ninja hoods for the bank robbery).

Depending on state law, it's usually conspiracy to do something (usually requires a felony), such as Conspiracy to Commit Robbery, Conspiracy to Manufacture Meth, Conspiracy to Commit Burglary, Conspiracy to Deal in Marijuana, Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Criminal Stupidity, etc., et al. Federal law defines a number of specific types of conspiracy.

When I was a LEO, I loved to use conspiracy when I could as both the federal and my state's rules of evidence allowed hearsay into evidence when conspiracy was afoot. Note that we didn't even have to charge conspiracy (sometimes useful, like in drug prosecutions or theft rings) to extract the benefits of the hearsay exception.

Conspiracy could also trigger sentencing aggravators and consequences depending on state law.

[Dagny]

Conspiracy seems to be a useful catch all for politically incorrect behavior. Two of us shooting at human silhouettes together may constitute a conspiracy if we also happen to have talked or wrote about disliking certain politicians.

[KSFreeman]

Ah, yes, the swan and the crows!

Well, that's really a matter of mens rea, criminal intent, for the jury to sort out. As well, could be a matter of what the CI says the defendants were talking about at the range (to establish agreement).

A useful catch for politically incorrect behavior? I don't understand; it doesn't stand alone (unless defined different under State X's law). Conspiracy to do what???

[Solitar]

"Anarchist conspiracy to overthrow the government with our National Libertarian Agenda". That is what our lawyer mayor and his socialist allies have publicly accused us libertarian councilmembers of trying to force upon the populace. REALLY! I'm not kidding. It's on video and audio tape and in our papers. That IS what they accused us of -- and will do so again when we go after the Planning and Zoning Code. You can be very sure they will broadcast those charges far and wide (including Denver Post as he has done before) if we should attempt a local "Shall Issue Concealed Carry" ordinance in case our CCW issuing sheriff doesn't get re-elected. These communitarian statists would love to use both guns and anarchy against us and our "National Libertarian Agenda" which, BTW, included a balanced budget and a repeal of a business license ordinance. Gee, you'd think such laws were the foundation holding this nation together.

[KSFreeman]

Oh, he's accusing you of Conspiracy to Commit Treason in South Park? Has Chef or Uncle Jim Bob been squealing? "Hello, children." Stuff like this put Chuck I and Jimmy I out of bidness in jolly old Ingerland. See Rex v. Church, et al.

A conspiracy to exercise your 1st Amendment right to petition your government? A conspiracy to vote? A conspiracy to exercise your right to own property? Hmmm, maybe a conspiracy under the dictionary definition, but not the legal definition that Dagny asked about.

[Solitar]

South Park is east of us on the other side of Mosquito Pass and closer to the invading hoards from Denver and Jefferson County (Columbine High School neighborhood). That's Dagny's unfortunate stomping grounds.

We're in the Arkansas Headwaters where the water is pure and politics is a mess. Yes, the mayor is figuratively accusing us of treason against apple pie, children, and the American Way (of using the government to screw your neighbor before they screw you). You should have seen the fight we had over legalizing fireworks (sparklers and fountains but not bottle rockets) which the state of Colorado already deems "permissible" elsewhere in the state. We were accused of using our National Libertarian Agenda to put the entire town at risk of being burned to the ground. They'd have a field day with us trying to pass an ordinance like Kennesaw Georgia has. "They enacted a law requiring every household to own a firearm, exempting those with criminal records or religious objections.
http://www.codyexpress.com/Speakers/eprattpassammo.htm

The lawyer mayor and his authoritarian socialists would accuse of trying to cause the shooting death of every child in town. The local MMM would rise up in figurative arms (posters and demonstrations).

[Thairlar]

You could always accuse them right back of trying to forward their National Socialist agenda and see if they catch the reference.

Seriously though, isn't being a Libertarian fun?