Gov. Phil Scott says he is working with law enforcement and prosecutors to “identify any and all legal avenues to keep” Jack Sawyer, accused of planning to shoot up a high school in Fair Haven, in custody after a Vermont Supreme Court that could lead to his release.
The governor weighed in on the pending criminal case in a strongly worded statement issued late Friday afternoon, hours after receiving a letter from the area’s top school official beseeching Scott to “take immediate action to protect the children in our schools.”
“Based on the evidence in the public record, it is clear the individual intended and still intends to carry out a horrific crime,” Scott said in the statement. “I’ve heard from the school’s superintendent as well as the Rutland County legislative delegation on the fear and frustration the community is feeling, and I share that frustration and concern.”
“I’m appalled,” Scott added, “by Mr. Sawyer’s potential release and I’ve instructed the Department of Public Safety and all agencies to do everything they can to assist the Rutland
County State’s Attorney in holding this individual accountable, help the Legislature close any loopholes in the law his defense attorneys exploit, and support the school and the community with additional law enforcement resources.”
He said that his administration is working with county and state prosecutors as well as federal prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s office to “to identify any and all legal avenues to keep this individual in custody.”
A three-justice panel of the state’s highest court issued a ruling this week that says simply planning to commit a crime doesn’t meet the needed standard for making an attempt under Vermont case law. As a result, Sawyer may soon go free.
That’s because all four charges against him, including attempted aggravated murder and attempted first-degree murder, all involve proving the element of an attempt, which the high court ruled had not been reached in this case.
As a result, Sawyer can no longer continue to be held without bail and his attorneys have filed a motion to immediately dismiss the charges.
Defender General Matthew Valerio, whose office is defending Sawyer, said Friday evening that he has seen this type of response from a governor in a pending criminal case at least once before.
He said that was during the administration of Gov. Jim Douglas in the case involving Michael Jacques, a convicted sex offender who was charged in the 2008 rape and murder of Brooke Bennett, his niece.
Jacques, who initially had been facing federal charges that carried the death penalty, was ultimately sentenced to life in prison plus 70 years.
“I have a lot respect and admiration for our governor and I know that he has the best interest of the people of the state of Vermont in mind when he makes decisions,” Valerio said of Scott. “Our job is to represent the interests of our client consistent with the law.”
Existing law must be followed, Valerio added, regardless of where that brings the case.
“If the law as it exists allows for the prosecution of Mr. Sawyer than so be it, and we’ll defend it like we do any other cases,” Valerio said. “If the law says he hasn’t committed a crime, than all branches of government have to respect that and follow it.”
Federal prosecutors wouldn’t confirm their involvement in the case. Valerio said he was not aware of any federal laws that Sawyer might have broken.
The Sawyer case has had a strong effect on Scott.
It was the affidavit explaining the teenager’s arrest, the governor has said, that led him to shift his stance on the need for new gun legislation, which also required Scott going back on a campaign promise not to pass new gun laws.
Scott said after Sawyer’s arrest in February that the details laid out in that affidavit “jolted” him into changing his position — days later he held a press conference and said “everything’s on the table” when it came to countering gun violence.
The Supreme Court’s decision reversing a lower court decision to maintain the charges against Sawyer was issued Wednesday, about 90 minutes after Scott signed a package of bills making historic changes the state’s gun laws. The governor began his speech before that signing by talking about the impact of Sawyer’s case.
The governor’s statement late Friday afternoon followed a letter sent to him earlier in the afternoon in by Brooke Olsen-Farrell, school superintendent of the Addison-Rutland Supervisory Union, which includes Fair Haven Union High School, the school allegedly targeted by Sawyer.
In that letter, Olsen-Farrell expressed frustration and concern for the well-being of students, staff and others, writing, “Today I am left feeling angry, disappointed and betrayed.”
She added, “Despite what the school, community, and law enforcement have done we are essentially being told we need to wait until this former student is on school grounds before a crime is committed. At some point do the rights of the whole outweigh the rights of an individual?”
The letter, which Olsen-Farrell said is written on behalf of the ARSU administration, ends with her writing to the governor, “I beseech you to take immediate action to protect the children in our schools and communities.”
She wrote of increased student absences and staff sent home due to severe emotional distress since Sawyer’s arrest in mid-February. And should Sawyer be released, parents have been expressing fear of sending their students to school, not just at the Fair Haven Union High School, but throughout the district, she wrote.
“Do we really have to wait until the damage is done? Do we have to wait until the bullets fly to be able to take action?” the superintendent wrote. “With the gun legislation being discussed in recent weeks, why was this not brought up? When can we expect to see legislation to address these issues?”
The governor said in his letter that officials are working to muster support for Fair Haven.
“In total, nine law enforcement agencies, including state and local agencies in both Vermont and New York, are prepared to provide resources to the school and community and they are prepared to keep the school and community safe, should this individual be released,” the governor wrote.
“Beyond these immediate safety precautions, we are taking additional action at the state level,” he added. “The mere possibility that someone with a clear intent to murder innocent children could be back on the street shows there is an unacceptable loophole in our current criminal law.”
The next scheduled hearing in Sawyer’s case isn’t until April 27, though Kelly Green, a public defender representing him, wrote in the motion that the judge should release her client without a hearing.
“Jack has been charged with four crimes, an essential element of each crime being that Jack attempted the crimes,” Green wrote.
The Supreme Court, she added, “has reviewed the evidence in this case” and “determined that Jack’s acts do not constitute an attempt.”
Defining an ‘attempt’
The ruling issued by the Supreme Court ended by stating, “The Legislature can, if it chooses, deviate from this long-established standard by passing a law revising the definition of attempt.”
Several legal experts have backed up the Supreme Court’s decision, saying that preparation alone does not justify an “attempt” charge under Vermont case law.
In arguments last week before the three-justice panel, Rutland County State’s Attorney Rose Kennedy said she believed that Sawyer had taken significant steps to warrant the charges.
Steps allegedly taken by Sawyer in planning the shooting included buying a shotgun and ammunition in Rutland days before his arrest, securing $500 in bitcoin online currency to anonymously buy a Glock 9mm handgun on the “dark web,” and researching the school’s calendar to pick a date, March 14.
Kennedy added that if law enforcement had to wait until a school shooter entered the grounds of a school with an arsenal of weapons to justify an attempt charge, the consequences would be deadly.
Scott, in his statement, wrote that he is calling on the Legislature to “act quickly” to close “existing loopholes” relating to attempt charges and establish a domestic terrorism statute, which exist in other states — “and to so immediately and before Fair Haven High School Students return from their April vacation.”
The governor also expressed concern for the safety of the 17-year-old girl who alerted police to conversations she had with Sawyer over Facebook messenger in which Sawyer talked of plans to carry out a shooting at Fair Haven high school.
Police say that tip played a central role in Sawyer’s arrest in mid-February.
“I’m also concerned for the brave young woman who reported him,” the governor said in his statement, “and I’ve directed the Department of Public Safety to ensure they have open and ongoing communication with law enforcement in her community.”
Also, according to the governor’s statement Vermont State Police have been regular contact with Fair Haven Police as well as Sawyer’s parents, “who have been engaged and cooperative.” Former Castleton University President David Wolk is Sawyer’s step-father.
Fair Haven Police Chief William Humphries said this week he has been meeting with school leaders about a “safety plan going forward if (Sawyer) was to be released.”
Steps involve additional staffing, more restricted access to buildings and a greater police presence at the schools and school-related events.
Fair Haven officials are also installing a swipe card access system to the high school, providing more training to students and staff, and increasing “perimeter checks” of the school grounds, Superintendent Olsen-Farrell said in her letter to staff, parents and other community members.
Counseling services, she added, continue to be available for staff and students.
The ARSU also has already obtained a no-trespass order against Sawyer, should he be released.
On Thursday, Kennedy, the prosecutor, obtained an extreme risk protection order against Sawyer, the first such order under a law that was signed into law by the governor a day earlier. The order allows law enforcement to seize any firearms he may have following his possible release from jail.
Kennedy could not be reached for comment.
Sawyer does not plan to challenge the order, according to his attorney.
Read the story on VTDigger here: UPDATED: Governor will pursue ‘any and all legal avenues’ to keep Sawyer locked up.