Charges of first-degree terroristic threatening filed against a man for allegedly posting statements on Facebook in which he said the Norfork school needed a Columbine-type event have been dropped by the state.
Twenty-year-old Evan Thompson of Mountain Home was charged in October last year after he made reference to the bloody 1999 massacre at the Colorado High School and indicated the same thing was needed at the Norfork school.
Forteenth Judicial District Prosecutor David Ethredge said Monday the decision to drop the charges was not made lightly. He said a number of conversations were held with all those involved — including Norfork school officials — and the decision was reached Thompson had learned his lesson from the incident, and he now understood what might appear to be idle chatter on social media could well create apprehension and concern on the part of many other people.
Thompson was 19 when he was arrested.
Ethredge said it is his duty to charge those alleged to have committed crimes, but also not to prosecute cases when it seemed justice would be better served by not doing so.
According to the probable cause affidavit in the case, the incident began when a senior at Norfork High School was asked by school administrators to remove campaign signs posted for an upcoming election for class officers.
The signs were said to carry images of a cat and wording that was deemed offensive. The student involved did not fully agree with the administration’s decision and made a video which was posted on social media in which he was seen pointing a handgun at the cat saying he must kill the animal because school officials thought it was offensive.
The situation allegedly prompted Thompson, identified as a friend of the student involved with the signs and video, to write a post of his own in which he referenced the Columbine shooting and the Norfork school. In the incident report filed by the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office, it was noted a number of people made postings critical of what Thompson had said.
The postings were first brought to the attention of the school resource office at Norfork and the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office became involved.
In addition to the written statements, Thompson is said to have posted an image from the Colorado school shooting in which 12 students and one teacher were killed and 21 people injured. The two Colorado shooters — Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold — took their own lives about 49 minutes after launching the attacks.
Thompson was represented by Melbourne attorney Gray Dellinger. The defense attorney filed a motion to dismiss the charges against his client in early November last year.
In the motion, Dellinger argued Thompson’s alleged actions were not of a nature to meet the required elements of the criminal statute under which his client had been charged.
In the 10-page motion, Dellinger writes the statute on terroristic threatening cannot be read to include language simply expressing a desired outcome, but contains no language indicating a clear intent to cause such an outcome. Dellinger argued since no specific intent to carry out Thompson’s threat was outlined in the social media postings, the statements that did appear fell within constitutionally protected speech.
There was apparently no ruling on Dellinger’s motion and Ethredge said the motion did not play a major role in reaching the decision to drop the charges. “There were a number of other factors involved leading to the decision not to proceed,” Ethredge said.
In the order dismissing the case filed July 19th, the state reserved the right to re-file the charges. Ethredge said the state stood ready to do just that if any further incidents occurred.
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