A Rutland judge on Wednesday morning vacated an order he issued a day earlier on whether four felony charges, including attempted aggravated murder, should stand in the case of Jack Sawyer, accused of planning to shoot up Fair Haven Union High School.
Sawyerโs attorneys said on Wednesday morning they plan to appeal a ruling made on Tuesday by Judge Thomas Zonay setting $100,000 bail in the case.
Zonay, in an order released on Tuesday, denied a motion by Sawyerโs attorneys to dismiss the four felony charges for lack of probable cause.
On Wednesday morning, the judge issued an order vacating that order.
โUpon further review of the motion, the court concludes that the issues raised in the motion warrant a hearing for further development, analysis, and consideration prior to determination of the motion,โ the judge wrote.
โAccordingly, the Entry Order dated April 16, 2018, re-affirming the prior probable cause determination and denying dismissal is hereby vacated,โ he wrote.
Prosecutors have until April 23 to file a response on the issue, according to the judge.
โThe clerk shall schedule the motion for a hearing promptly,โ Zonay added in the short one-page order.
Sawyerโs attorneys earlier this week filed a motion seeking to have the judge review probable cause on the four felony charges against him in light of a Vermont Supreme Court ruling issued last week.
That ruling said Sawyer no longer could be held without bail on the felony charges, and that the four โattemptedโ charges filed against him did not rise to the level of an โattemptedโ crime under Vermont case law.
Defender General Matthew Valerio, whose office is defending Sawyer, said Zonayโs order issued on Wednesday morning vacating his previous ruling means that the four felony charges remain in place pending the upcoming hearing.
After Zonay denied the motion to dismiss the charges for lack of probable cause on Tuesday, Valerio said he intended to appeal that matter to the Vermont Supreme Court as soon as possible.
However, now that the judge has vacated that order, the matter canโt be appealed until the judge makes a new determination after the next hearing, Valerio said.
In addition to the felony charges against Sawyer, two new misdemeanor charges were brought against Sawyer this week โ criminal threatening and carrying a dangerous or deadly weapon, openly or concealed, with the intent or avowed purpose of causing harm.
Those charges carry a sentence of up to three years in prison, if heโs convicted.
Sawyer has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. Zonay set bail at $100,000 in the case on Tuesday afternoon following a hearing in which his father said he would seek to have Sawyer checked into a psychiatric facility upon his release.
Sawyer remained listed on Wednesday morning as incarcerated at the Rutland jail, according to the stateโs online offender locator.
Valerio said on Wednesday morning that the defense intends to appeal that bail order. Lawyers representing Sawyer say there was no need for bail because of the plans to have him immediately begin inpatient treatment at the Brattleboro Retreat.
Zonay said he would reconsider the matter if a firm admission date were arranged with the treatment center.
Sawyer was arrested in mid-February after authorities say he had plans to cause โmass casualtiesโ at Fair Haven Union High School. Police said they discovered a notebook from Sawyer, titled, Journal of an Active Shooter, which included plans he had for carrying out the shooting and a โkill listโ of students and staff.
They say that his purchase of a shotgun and ammunition in the days before his arrest showed that he intended to move forward with those plans.
The Vermont Supreme Court, in its ruling last week, said under Vermont case law that has been standing for more than a century, merely planning or preparing for a crime did not meet the standard for an attempted offense.
The Supreme Court sent the case back to the trial court level in Rutland for further proceedings, leading to Tuesdayโs hearing.
