A Vermont judge has ordered that an 18-year-old Poultney man accused in a foiled plot to cause “mass casualties” at his former high school in Fair Haven should remain jailed without bail pending his trial.
Judge Thomas Zonay wrote in his ruling there was enough evidence presented at a two-day hearing this month that could allow a jury to convict Jack Sawyer of the charges against him.
If convicted of those four felony charges, Sawyer would spend the rest of his life behind bars.
“Insofar as a jury must make an inference of immediacy to satisfy the ‘overt act’ requirement, Defendant’s confession and journal denote an acceleration of his plans,’ the judge wrote in his 21-page decision handed down Monday in Rutland Superior criminal court.
“Such evidence would permit a jury to infer that the police caught Defendant near the execution of his plan,” Zonay wrote. “In sum, there exists evidence which, when considered under the applicable standard, would permit a jury, on these facts, to find that law enforcement prevented Defendant from executing an imminent attack.”
The judge then added, “In light of the foregoing, the Court concludes that the evidence, when viewed under the requisite standard, amply establishes each element, including ‘attempt,’ necessary to sustain a conviction on each of the charges.”
Sawyer pleaded not guilty last month to four felony charges, including attempted first-degree murder and attempted aggravated murder. He has been held without bail since his arraignment.
Attorney Kelly Green, a public defender representing Sawyer, has argued that prosecutors had failed to show that her client had attempted any crimes. She has said, “Merely preparing for a crime, intending a crime, is not an attempt.”
Green wrote in court filings that that Sawyer never went to the school, sought out help from anyone to carry out a school shooting, or scoped out the grounds.
Rutland County State’s Attorney Rose Kennedy had countered that Sawyer’s actions and words spoken to state police detectives as well as those he wrote down in a notebook revealed Sawyer’s intent on carrying out his planned attack.
Green could not immediately be reached Monday for comment. Kennedy, reached Monday evening, declined comment.
Zonay, in his ruling, sided with the prosecutor.
“Here, Defendant committed significant resources and took a number of affirmative steps to effectuate his goal of a mass shooting at FHUHS,” the judge wrote.
Those steps included buying a shotgun and ammunition in Rutland days before his arrest, doing target practice with the shotgun, securing $500 in Bitcoin online currency to anonymously buy an AR-15 on the “dark web,” and researching the school’s calendar to pick a date, March 14.
Sawyer told police detectives he had to hold off the AR-15 purchase because the market for Bitcoin had dropped and he would need additional funds to make such a purchase.
He also told detectives that even if he were arrested he would eventually carry through with his plans to shoot up the school, it would just be delayed.
“Here, each step taken by Defendant took him closer to consummation of the plan he committed to completing,” Zonay wrote. “When considered in light of the evidence concerning his focus and commitment to conduct the shooting, as well as his past actions to accomplish a goal that he sets his mind to, absent the police interruption the Defendant’s acts were likely, if not assured, to end in the consummation of his crimes.”
The judge added, “Far from a general design, Defendant’s ultimate goal and anticipated behavior to achieve the goal are self-evident. Defendant’s actions in moving forward went beyond mere preparation.”
Zonay’s decision includes several passages from Sawyer’s journal, including:
• Entry on 12/2/17: “I’d rather exist by what I will leave behind. I will be immortal from my actions. The mass chaos I’ll create will leave everyone distraught and fearful of their next step, not knowing what will happen next, who might do it, when.
• Entry on 12/29/17; ‘I’ve been working on this craft of mine for as long as I can remember now. The biggest con I’ve ever done. Making things seem like they are all right when in reality, they’re not. And people believe me. They think I’m doing well and better, when really, my hatred and anger has maintained pretty constant, I’m just good at lying and making things seem okay. I’m very proud of myself, for nobody I know could pull this off as well as I am. It’s amazing they have no idea what’s going on. This is my biggest and grandest work of art that’s been years in the making, but yet they’ve been clueless.’
• Entry on 1/6/18; ‘It’s weird knowing that I’m only putting up with everything in my life right now just waiting until I’m able to commit the shooting and once that day comes then nothing will matter I won’t need anything but that last bullet in my brain. It can’t come soon enough.”
Sawyer had left Fair Haven Union High School in 2016 as school officials raised concerns about his behavior, including his apparent fascination with the 1999 school shooting at Columbine High School.
Sawyer was placed by his parents in Ironwood, a residential treatment school in Maine. His stepfather is David Wolk, former president of Castleton University.
Sawyer had only recently returned to Vermont, telling authorities he had been living in his vehicle.
Police first talked to Sawyer on Feb. 14 while investigating a complaint of a possible threat against the school, which Sawyer had previously attended. Police did not arrest him despite him saying he had bought a rifle because there was not yet probable cause of a crime, the prosecutor wrote in a filing.
However, a day later a 17-year-old girl from New York state, a friend of Sawyer, reported to police a conversation she had with Sawyer over Facebook. Police say through their continued investigation they uncovered his journal and his plot to shoot up his former high school.
The Sawyer case, coming on the heels of the school shooting in Florida, has resonated far beyond western Rutland County. Gun legislation, which had been issue on the backburner in the Statehouse, has since become a top priority for politicians in Montpelier.
Gov. Phil Scott has said the allegations outlined in a police affidavit against Sawyer “jolted,” him, prompting him to shift his own stance on gun legislation, saying recently that everything is now “on the table.”
Meanwhile, in the Sawyer case, his attorney submitted a filing last week seeking to the dismiss the charges against him. That motion remains pending.
