Teen who stabbed classmates faces 10 years to life in prison

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PROVO — A 16-year-old who admitted to attacking five classmates at random in a school locker room faces a potential prison sentence of at least 10 years and possibly life, to be served once he is released from a juvenile facility.

In a plea deal made Tuesday, Luke Dollahite pleaded guilty in juvenile court to four out of five charges of attempted aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, and was sentenced to secure care. He has agreed to plead guilty to the fifth count in 4th District Court, where he faces the charge as an adult.

Dollahite's first hearing in district court is scheduled for April 13.

Among court filings made public Thursday as the case is transferred to the adult system, a memorandum of understanding regarding the plea deal reveals that prosecutors and Dollahite's attorneys have agreed to ask 4th District Judge Christine Johnson for a lesser prison sentence of 10 years to life, rather than the 15-to-life prison term the charge generally carries.

Dollahite's prison sentence would begin after the Youth Parole Authority decides to release him from confinement in the juvenile system, which could happen anytime between now and his 21st birthday. He will receive credit for the time served in secure care, according to the memorandum.

According to police, Dollahite dressed in red, expecting "a lot of blood," when he went to the boys locker room at Mountain View High School in Orem on Nov. 15, armed with knives and a bo staff. The 16-year-old attacked five classmates at random, intent on killing as many people as possible before taking his own life, charging documents state. Four students were stabbed while another was hit over the head with the staff.

As teachers backed him into a corner, Dollahite stabbed himself in the neck. He and the five victims survived.

One boy who was stabbed in the neck repeatedly when Dollahite returned to him after stabbing another teen suffered permanent paralysis to his right arm.

Prior to the incident, school district officials said Dollahite was a straight-A student and had no prior disciplinary issues. The boy had been home-schooled and enrolled at Mountain View in August, according to the district.

Victims of the attack, their parents and Dollahite's parents expressed their hope in court this week that Dollahite will receive treatment while in custody for mental illness that fueled the attack.

According to the memorandum, Dollahite was diagnosed after his arrest with personality disorders and persistent depression.

Thursday's court filings also included a statement from Mountain View's assistant principal, Charles DeWitt, who explained he could not attend Tuesday's hearing. In his statement, DeWitt described the day of the attacks, starting with his desperate sprint to the locker room when other faculty members called out over a radio for help.

DeWitt passed one bloody student on his way into the locker room, he wrote, arriving as Dollahite pressed a knife to his own neck. He was then met by a second victim — the boy left partially paralyzed when Dollahite's blade severed nerves in his neck and who is identified in court documents as A.D. — who was "covered in blood and staggering as if he were intoxicated."

After dragging the boy away for fear Dollahite would come after him again, DeWitt wrote that he and the student listened to the attacker scream as a Taser hit him.

"I will never forget the next moment when I could see sheer terror in (A.D.'s) eyes and he looked at me and asked, 'Am I going to die?'" DeWitt wrote. "It was all I could do to maintain my emotions and to reassure him that he would in fact live and that help was on the way."

Once A.D. had been rushed away in an ambulance, DeWitt said he returned with a police officer to Dollahite, who asked, "Did I kill any of them?"

The officer told Dollahite no, DeWitt said.

"I will never forget Luke's reaction when the officer answered him. He put his head down, as if he were disappointed and said, 'This wasn't supposed to end this way,'" DeWitt wrote.

DeWitt's letter expressed his sympathy for the victims, their families, Dollahite's family, and the students and teachers at Mountain View who have struggled to cope with the trauma of that day.