A judge has granted a prosecutor’s request seeking the first extreme risk protection order under a new law that became effective Wednesday in the case of Jack Sawyer, who police allege was planning a mass shooting at Fair Haven high school.
The temporary order allows law enforcement to seize any weapons the 18-year-old may have, and a hearing has been set for April 25 to allow prosecutors to extend that order for six months.
Sawyer, who is incarcerated at the Rutland jail but could be released in days, does not plan to contest the issuing of such an order, his attorneys said Friday.
Vermont Defender General Matthew Valerio, whose office is representing Sawyer, said that Kelly Green, the public defender assigned to the case, had talked to him about the matter.
“The client doesn’t care if he has a gun or not so he doesn’t care if they have an extreme risk protection order,” Valerio said.
Rutland County State’s Attorney Rose Kennedy filed the petition in Rutland Superior family court in the wake of a Vermont Supreme Court ruling that could lead to Sawyer’s imminent release from jail and the dismissal of the charges against him.
Judge Cortland Corsones granted the request Thursday afternoon.
“(Sawyer) shall not purchase, possess or receive a dangerous weapon, effective immediately,” the two-page order stated.
Kennedy attached to her petition an affidavit by Vermont State Police Detective Sgt. Henry Alberico, similar to one submitted in the criminal case against Sawyer in which the teenager tells detectives about plans he had been making for a mass shooting at Fair Haven school.
Kennedy could not immediately be reached for comment.
Valerio said earlier Friday that he didn’t believe the new law applied in Sawyer’s case
“As far as I understand the law there has to be an imminent threat of bodily injury or death and that doesn’t exist currently,” Valerio said, noting that Sawyer is currently locked up.
Sawyer is still listed on the state’s online inmate locator as being detained at the Rutland jail as of Friday morning.
The filing of the petition follows a decision issued Wednesday by the Vermont Supreme Court saying that Sawyer could no longer be held without bail on criminal charges and that the allegations against him did not meet the standard for the crimes he had been charged with, including attempted aggravated murder and attempted first-degree murder.
The court found that merely planning to do something did not reach the point of making an attempt under Vermont case law. Since all four charges Sawyer had been charged with involved “attempted” actions, the ruling has led his attorney to file a motion to dismiss and legal experts saying that motion should be granted based on the Supreme Court’s decision.
Green wrote in the motion that the court should grant the motion “forthwith and without another hearing because the State has had a full and fair opportunity to present evidence over the course of a two-day bail hearing.”
She added, “Jack has been charged with four crimes, an essential element of each crime being that Jack attempted the crimes.”
The Supreme Court, Green wrote, “has reviewed the evidence in this case” and “determined that Jack’s acts do not constitute an attempt.”
The next scheduled hearing in the criminal case is April 27, though Sawyer’s attorneys are seeking to move up that date to as soon as possible so they can seek their client’s release and argue that the charges against should be dismissed.
Gov. Phil Scott signed S.221, the bill that provided for a civil process to seize firearms from those deemed to pose an “extreme risk” of harm to themselves or others on Wednesday as part of a package of gun-related legislation.
The law allows a prosecutor to seek a temporary order in civil court to seize firearms from a person found to be a risk for 15 days. At that point, the prosecutor can seek to extend that period to up to six months following a hearing.
The governor signed the bill into law Wednesday with the Supreme Court issuing its decision in the Sawyer case about 90 minutes later.
Sawyer had entered not guilty pleas to the charges against him following his arrest in mid-February and was ordered held without bail.
Read the story on VTDigger here: UPDATED: Judge grants first extreme risk protection order in Sawyer case.