Judge may throw 'Saw' case out

Third District Juvenile Judge Christine Decker will take until next week to decide whether the trial of two teens accused of planning to kidnap and torture several people in a manner similar to events portrayed in the horror movie "Saw" will even continue.

The second day of the scheduled two-day trial was set to begin, but after the prosecution rested its case first thing Friday morning, defense attorneys for the 14- and 15-year-old boys made motions to strike evidence and dismiss the case.

Both boys are charged with three counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping, a second-degree felony.

Sam Pappas, the attorney for the 15-year-old, and Thomas Burton, attorney for the younger boy, filed motions asking that the judge dismiss the case on the grounds that prosecutors did not carry their burden of proving that a conspiracy actually existed.

"The state has not responded to the law that they need independent evidence of a conspiracy," Pappas told Decker during the hearing.

Both Pappas and Burton say that prosecutors have not given physical evidence to prove that the boys had really agreed to carry out a plan. The attorneys continue to argue that the boys were just talking about one of the "Saw" movies that they had recently watched.

"You have to prove a specific intent to have agreed on a conspiracy and also a specific intent to have the agreement carried out, and there is none of this, its just talk," Burton told reporters after the hearing.

Prosecutors, however, told the judge that the statute does not require an overt act, just evidence of intent and agreement among potential conspirators, and they feel both of those things have been represented in the evidence they have presented.

"This conspiracy, thankfully, was caught in its beginning stages," prosecutor Robert Neill told Decker during his arguments.

Defense attorneys also joined in other motions to strike evidence introduced by prosecutors. One had to do with the testimony of one of the mother's testimony regarding what she overheard the two boys talking about on March 7, the night they were arrested, and another that focused on the boys' First Amendment rights to talk about the movie.

Decker told the attorneys that she would take their motions under advisement and that she will announce her decision next Friday.

If she grants the motion to dismiss, the case would be over, but if she denies the motion, the trial would continue with the defense having a chance to present its case.

E-MAIL: ethomas@desnews.com