Court Date For Noblesville School Shooter Suspect Postponed
A scheduled Monday court hearing for the 13-year old charged in the late May Noblesville West Middle School shooting has been postponed. Indiana Public Broadcasting’s Eric Weddle reports.
A Monday court hearing for the 13-year-old boy charged in the Noblesville school shooting of his teacher and a student was postponed by the Hamilton County Court.
Attorneys for the boy filed a motion to request delay of the hearing for at least 60 days due to the large amount of evidence. County prosecuting attorney Lee Buckingham did not object to the motion.
“The discovery in this matter is voluminous. and will require additional time to evaluate,” wrote the suspect’s attorney Christopher Eskew and Ben Jaffe in the motion.
The court decided to continue the hearing to a future date that’s yet to be decided, said Orval P. Schierholz, administrator of courts.
The teen is being tried as a juvenile as required by state law and he is not being named by the media because he is not an adult.
The suspect faces charges from the May 25 shooting at Noblesville West Middle School, which injured two people – seventh-grade teacher Jason Seaman and student Ella Whistler. Whistler remains in the hospital.
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Those charges would be two felony counts of attempted murder, aggravated battery, battery using a deadly weapon, and possession of a firearm on school property.
But, according to Indiana law, since the student is younger than 14 and not charged with murder, he cannot be tried as an adult.
In a juvenile case, the defendant is found to be “delinquent” or not. There are numerous options a judge can determine if the defendant is found to be delinquent, such as placed under the wardship of the Department of Corrections until rehabilitation programs are completed, and/or ordered to receive psychological or other medical care.