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MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Attorneys for an 18-year-old man accused of planning a mass shooting at his former high school in Vermont have requested the court grant him youthful-offender status.
A motion filed Monday by the Office of the Defender General on behalf of Jack Sawyer asks the court to move charges of criminal threatening and carrying a deadly weapon to family court.
Sawyer has pleaded not guilty. Four felony charges, including three attempted-murder charges, were dismissed in April following a state Supreme Court ruling.
Police say Sawyer planned a shooting at Fair Haven Union High School but was arrested before carrying it out.
Deputy defender general Marshall Pahl says Sawyer is an adolescent who could benefit from a system that rehabilitates offenders.
Rutland County state's attorney Rose Kennedy says the state opposes the move.
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