By MATT APUZZO, Standard-Times staff writer
NEW BEDFORD -- A defense attorney for a boy charged with
being part of a school massacre plot introduced into evidence yesterday a police
report he hopes will help convince a judge the boy is not dangerous and should
be eligible for bail. Prosecutors have maintained that the 16-year-old boy, who is
accused of helping plan the slaughter of his classmates, stole a gun from a
local business. They said one of the boy's co-defendants told police he had
seen the boy with the gun. That alleged theft and the gun's unknown whereabouts
were used last year to back prosecutors' claims the boy was too dangerous to be
released while awaiting trial. But in a new hearing yesterday, attorney Donald A. Brisson
submitted a police report written last September by Detective Jeannine Pettiford,
who investigated the theft. "Given everything in this case, I don't believe that (the
boy) stole the gun," Detective Pettiford wrote. The .25-caliber revolver was reported missing from a desk
drawer at Vintage Motors on Cedar Street last year. In her investigation, Detective Pettiford interviewed
16-year-old Michael McKeehan, who would later be charged in the plot and tell
prosecutors his friend stole the gun. But Michael told Detective Pettiford that he had not seen
the gun. And the man who reported the gun stolen told the detective he suspected
the boy, but did not say why. "The victim stated 'I don't know,' to almost every question
I posed,'" the detective wrote. How Juvenile Court Judge Bettina Borders, who has the sole
discretion in determining whether the boy will be released, will weigh the
report against Michael McKeehan's later statements could help determine the
outcome of the hearing next week. But Assistant District Attorney Raymond P. Veary told the
judge he has 33 exhibits supporting his argument the boy is too dangerous to be
released. It's an argument a judge agreed with last year, and one that
was upheld on appeal. When the hearing continues in juvenile court next week, Mr.
Brisson will call an expert in threat assessment to the stand to testify the boy
is not a danger. The boy's trial is scheduled for early July. It is The Standard-Times' policy to withhold the names of
juveniles unless it is clear they were involved in a major crime. Michael
McKeehan accepted a plea bargain this week, ending his protection of his
anonymity under the newspaper's policy. Staff writer Matt Apuzzo covers
criminal justice. He can be reached by phone at (508) 979-4475 or by e-mail at
mapuzzo@s-t.com This story appeared on Page A3 of The Standard-Times on June 1, 2002.