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Kentucky Court Drops Charges Against Teen for Writing in Journal
August 08, 2005
William Poole, the 18-year-old Kentucky high school junior who was arrested for making “terrorist threats” in his personal journal, was released last week and charges against him were dropped.
Story Continued...
The charges stemmed from stories Poole wrote in his journal that described a school take-over plot. In earlier reports, local police said that Poole was arrested for submitting a story to school, but later statements by the police indicate that Poole was arrested for stories that he wrote in his personal journal only. Poole’s grandmother, with whom he lives, tipped the police off after she read the journal and became concerned. The journal is said to describe a three-part plan to recruit a “brotherhood” of “true soldiers” to take over a high school; the school was not named.
Poole has maintained that his writings were only a science fiction story
about zombies and that he never tried to solicit others in any such plot. In preliminary hearings, Poole was charged with the second degree felony of terroristic threatening, which the grand jury then reduced to a misdemeanor charge on July 14th. He pled “not guilty” on July 20. Until his release on August 7, Poole had been held at the Clark County Detention Center since March for contempt of court by violating a bond that required him to stay away from school property after his arrest.
Due to the fact that by last week Poole had only served four months of the six month jail sentence for contempt of court, Judge Brandy Oliver Brown used the Court’s continued authority over Poole to release him under shock probation, which gives the Court discretion to shorten his sentence in certain instances. Had Poole served his entire six month jail sentence, the Court would have had no authority to impose any terms on his release.
Telling Poole that the terms of probation would give the Court “something to hold over your head,” Judge Brown ordered Poole to reside with his
grandparents for two years, to stay away from any private or public shool property, and to receive psychological treatment – though court-ordered evaluations indicated that Poole did not need psychological treatment, nor did his pose a threat to others.
Despite probation, the Court found that the grand jury’s indictment against Poole failed to state a criminal offense. Poole’s attorney argued that the prosecution could not demonstrate that Poole committed an overt act, which they would be required to do in order to prove him guilty of criminal attempt. The Court agreed, and even County Assistant Attorney John Keeton noted that there were no recorded convictions of attempt to commit terroristic threatening in the state of Kentucky.
According to an article in the August 3 edition of The Winchester Sun, Keeton wrote, “It is not at all clear that the legislature contemplated such a crime as ‘Attempted Terroristic Threatening’,” adding that “[w]hile the alleged conduct of Mr. Poole is very disturbing, it does no justice to our system, or to Mr. Poole, to try him on a charge that strains statutory interpretation.”
Poole’s attorney claims that the teenager is eager to get on with his
education now that he is free, but it is unclear how he will accomplish this under the terms of his probation, which prevent him from entering school grounds. When Judge Brown stated that she hoped she would not see Poole again, The Winchester Sun reports that he said, “You never will.” Later, Poole told a television crew “I’m glad I get to go home.”
Comments:
You have to know we are indeed living in an Orwellian state when one’s own GRANDMOTHER turns you in. In my opinion SHE ought to have been arrested--for dereliction of duty!!! That poor kid will never trust her again--as is right!
I praise the grandmother for her bravery and willingness to protect society at large, in spite of the “harm” it could cause her flesh and blood kin.