Prosecutor: Planned school shooting warrants attempt charge

RUTLAND, Vt. – Prosecutors say a Vermont teen had made enough preparations for a planned massacre at his former high school to warrant charges of attempted murder.

A lawyer for 18-year-old Jack Sawyer has asked for the charges to be dismissed, saying that the state’s high court has ruled that a plot to commit a crime does not constitute an attempt.

The Rutland Herald reports that prosecutor Rose Kennedy responded with a filing Monday that argued Sawyer progressed from planning a crime to committing one when he took steps such as moving back to Vermont and purchasing a shotgun.

Investigators say Sawyer described detailed plans for a mass shooting at Fair Haven Union High School and wrote about his plot in a diary he titled “Journal of an Active Shooter.”

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Information from: Rutland Herald, http://www.rutlandherald.com/