INDIANAPOLIS — A judge decided to release the teen responsible for the Noblesville school shooting to his parents under multiple conditions.
Police and probation will search the family's house before releasing him.
The ruling came Wednesday in a Hamilton County court. He is due back in court on Dec. 19, 2023 for a review hearing.
"We didn't expect it. I guess in terms of being optimistic we got lost in the optimism here," said Benjamin Jaffe, defense attorney. "I think the situation is as safe as it can be. Again, while still recognizing what the mandates of what juvenile law are and respecting what the law is."
Here is the list of conditions he must meet:
- Cannot be on any school property
- Must notify courts and probation of address change
- No weapons
- No unsupervised electronics
- Random searches of devices
- Curfew of 10p.m. to sunrise (11p.m. on Friday and Saturday)
- One hour of electronic entertainment
- No contact with victim
- No social media
- GPS monitoring
- Probation GPS monitoring until 21 years old
- Parents must report any violations or violence
The state says the shooter will remain on probation until he's 21.
"I don't see anything wrong with what the state was asking for, frankly, it was very much already covered by the previous order – or it was certainly within the bane of what the court wanted to see," Jaffe said.
The state tells 13News they did everything they could to keep him in a supervised facility.
"We had asked and hoped to be able to, instead of releasing him to his home, to release him to a treatment facility.... that had been anticipated in a previous ruling. We had asked for that to be an option for today but there wasn't an appropriate treatment facility for him," said Johsua Kocher, Hamilton County Chief Deputy Prosecutor.
At the hearing, probation officers said they looked at three placement facilities for the young man, but he was not accepted into them.
While the state had some concerns on his release, they ultimately agreed on the conditions of the release.
His attorney believes it will be good for the young man and his family.
"I believe he's entirely regretful about his actions. Again, I think it came from an incredibly unhealthy place," Jaffe said. "I think he's grown considerably. I think, frankly, him being outside of a correctional setting and in a more therapeutic healthy setting is going to do even more to assist him moving forward."
Kocher said the young man is still considered a danger to the community.
"We're keeping him under our thumb as much as we can, but he wasn't an adult when this happened. He was a juvenile and it's in the juvenile system, so they are serious on what we can do at this time," said Kocher.
Five years ago, the then-13-year-old boy shot a teacher and his classmate at Noblesville West Middle School. He was placed in a juvenile detention facility with the plan for him to be released when he turned 18.
That release was delayed after the young man touched a case manager's breast.
During a victim's statement, the woman said the incident led to "great embarrassment" that affected her credibility as a new and female counselor.
The state now wants the teen to serve 120 days for battery and then be sent to a residential placement facility instead of going home.
"Most of it is focused on treatment, counseling, everything that they can do," said Barb Trathen, a chief deputy prosecutor in Hamilton County. "It's the same as an adult offender. There are transitional programs for adult offenders coming out of a penitentiary. We don't want to just throw them back out into the community, where they have no skills ready to adjust, and that's what this is all about, a transitional facility."
The young man has admitted to touching the case manager's breast. His attorney said his client "messed up" but has been punished.
The defense believes the teen will make a better transition into society if he's placed on home detention, where he'll wear a GPS monitor, have his computer usage monitored and have to go to counseling.