Lawyer: Teen Who Planned School Shooting Should Be Tried As Juvenile
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- He's accused of planning to shoot up and then blow up his high school in Baltimore County---but the 16-year-old's lawyer says he shouldn't be tried as an adult.
Mike Hellgren explains why.
His lawyer says the teen needs rehab, not prison. In the juvenile system, he's looking at five years of treatment, maximum. Charged as an adult, the 16-year-old faces almost 43 years behind bars.
Police paint a troubling picture of Sash Nymphos who, at age 16, was so disturbed, authorities say he got a gun and hatched a plot to shoot as many teachers and students at Carver Center High School as he could. They say he also made explosives to blow up the building.
Prosecutors decided to charge him as an adult, which could send him to prison until he's almost 60, but his lawyer is fighting to keep him in the juvenile system.
Law professor Byron Warnken looked through the charges with WJZ.
"It's so much better for the defendant. You don't go to a real prison, you go to a juvenile facility and you don't get an adult criminal record," Warnken said.
Convicted Perry Hall High shooter Bobby Gladden was 15 at the time. His lawyers also argued he needed juvenile rehab, not prison.
"We don't penalize people with mental illness," said his lawyer.
It didn't work. The judge went above guidelines and sent Gladden to prison for 35 years.
Like Gladden, Nemphos says he was bullied for years and he told teachers, who did nothing.
Friends say the plot is out of character.
"It didn't sound like him. I don't know what he's doing now or who he's hanging out with but definitely not the same person I hung out with," said friend James Jordan.
Right now, he's being held at the Hickey School, a detention facility for juveniles. A judge denied his bail.
Nemphos' background will now be a battleground in court.
"Is he rally fixable? Is he really amenable to juvenile rehabilitation? That's the issue the court is going to have to decide," Warnken said.
Police foiled the plot while investigating the teenage for breaking into cars near his home in Monkton.
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