[A] prosecutor and the defense team for Jack Sawyer, accused earlier this year of plotting to shoot up his former high school in Fair Haven, disagree on whether he should be treated as a “youthful offender” under a new law.
Attorneys for Sawyer are seeking that “youthful offender” status for their 18-year-old client, which results in the case being transferred from the adult criminal court to family court under the law that went into effect July 1.
Sawyer had been charged in February with three counts of attempted murder, but those felony charges were later dropped by the prosecutor following a Vermont Supreme Court decision that stated that mere planning did not rise to the level of an attempt under state law.
Currently, the only charges that remain pending against him are both misdemeanors: criminal threatening and carrying a dangerous weapon with the avowed purpose to commit serious injury or death.
His attorneys are now calling for those two misdemeanor charges to be transferred to the family court for a “youthful offender” determination.
Under the law, once that request is made the case must be transferred and all proceedings regarding the granting or denial of the youthful offender status will take place in the family division.
If granted that status, the case would play out behind closed doors in family court.
During that proceeding to determine whether to grant Sawyer youthful offender status, Rutland County State’s Attorney Rose Kennedy, who is prosecuting him, said she will argue against it.
“We oppose the transfer to juvenile court,” Kennedy said. “The state believes the risk to the public is too great and will require open proceedings and long-term supervision that is not contemplated under the new youthful offender statute.”
Vermont Defender General Matthew Valerio, whose office is defending Sawyer, declined comment on the matter.
The Legislature passed the law in 2016, with the expansion of the youthful offender status taking effect July 1, 2018.
Under the law, criminal defendants up to age 21 not charged with certain serious crimes will be eligible to apply for youth offender status. That status puts the case on a rehabilitation-focused track previously only available to defendants under age 18.
Proceedings in those cases take place in family court as opposed to adult criminal court.
The expansion of the program’s eligibility was part of a large piece of legislation that revised how young people are treated in the criminal justice system.
Sawyer was released from jail in April on $10,000 bail. He has pleaded not guilty to the two charges that remain pending against him.
If convicted of both offenses in adult criminal court, Sawyer faces up to three years in prison.
