HUTCHINSON, Kan. – It may be the end of the week before we know if Reno County District Judge Joe McCarville will allow the affidavits to be unsealed in the case against five teens accused of making threats against Hutch High.
Four of the five defendants and their attorneys were in court Tuesday morning to argue against it, believing it could jeopardize their clients’ right to a fair trial and also could implicate others as being involved who haven’t been charged.
The five teenagers are accused of conspiring to carry out a shooting at Hutchinson High School with the state stating that the five had posted the threats on their Facebook page called “KYOD,” which stands for “kill yourself or die.”
Attorney Stan Juhnke in court also told the judge that statements made by Assistant District Attorney Cheryl Allen that the teens planned to plant propane bombs was simply not true.
The attorney representing some media outlets, including three television stations and the local newspaper, argued for unsealing the documents. Wichita attorney Lyndon Vix told the judge that unsealing these documents is routine in other jurisdictions and that they should be here. He says he doesn’t believe that advance publicity would hurt the defendants’ right to a fair trial.
Mike Robinson, the attorney who represents Dominic Collins, wasn’t able to be at the hearing. So to be fair, Judge McCarville is allowing Robinson until 5 p.m. Friday to present his argument for keeping the affidavits sealed. He’s also allowing the other attorneys to present to him anything in the affidavits they want redacted by the end of the week.
At this point, Judge McCarville seems to be favoring the media request saying the public has a right to know. He says the public has a right to know what judges are doing whether they are making decisions based on what he called “flaky affidavits” or “good ones.” The judge went on to say that he doesn’t believe there is anything inflammatory or anything that would give unfair publicity in releasing the affidavits.
So, at this point, the affidavits for the search warrants will remain sealed. He did indicate that he didn’t sign all of the affidavits to allow the search by police, in other words, other judges were involved.
Collins, Tyler Cabral, Jacobsen Eells, Takoda D. Bowman and Andre R. Harris are charged with solicitation to commit first-degree murder and criminal threat. They were arrested in April after Hutchinson High School officials were alerted to postings on Facebook that threatened a mass murder at the school. They have all been held in juvenile detention since their arrests.