MASSACRE PLOT: Issue in Kerns case going to full top court
The Massachusetts supreme court justice that was expected to hand down a decision regarding the interpretation of the law regarding communicating a threat in the trial of Tobin Kerns has refused to the rule in the matter. Prosecutors are planning to argue the matter before the full Supreme Judicial Court. So again God only knows when Tobin will know if he’ll be exonerated or not.
This is a rather lengthy article so bear with me but it clarifies the final day of testimony in the trial of Tobin Kerns among other topics.
First I previously posted that Tobin used what I call the “joke defense”. Someone who was at the trial told me that was taken out of context by the previous article. This quote is more accurate…
In his testimony, Kerns said he was just egging Nee on for entertainment purposes while sleep-deprived when he wrote down a list of items dictated to him by Nee for use in planning the Columbine-style attack, and that he never planned to do anything with it. He said he was just doodling when he drew a swastika, a DOS (Disciples of Satan) symbol and a magnifying class at the top of the page.
“I forgot all about that list until I was arrested,” he said.
While I’m not thrilled that Tobin doodled those things on the list he has received help since then and prior to his arrest. Also, I think we all had that friend who talked a big game who we’d let rant and then roll our eyes as soon as he left the room. In Tobin’s case, that friend was Joe Nee.
And here is the clarification on the definition of communicating a threat Judge Coffin is looking for…
At issue is the definition of “communicating a threat.” Coffin said the question is whether the intended victim has to be threatened directly or whether a threat may be communicated by other means to the intended victim.
District Attorney Tim Cruz said Kerns was indicted on a charge of threatened use of deadly weapons at a school under a pre-Columbine state statute that defines what it means to communicate a threat, but the new, broader state statute on such a threat should apply in this case.
Massachusetts General Law refers to “whoever willfully communicates or causes to be communicated, either directly or indirectly, orally, in writing, by mail, by use of a telephone or telecommunication device including, but not limited to, electronic mail, Internet communications and facsimile communications, through an electronic communication device or by any other means” a threat.
Cruz filed the order because he is concerned that Coffin will use a more narrow definition to dismiss the charges or find Kerns not guilty, neither of which could be appealed.
The emergency order could be heard as soon as today (Oct. 25) by a single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court. The justice could decide that the full court needs to decide the issue, which would cause further delay. Coffin said he would wait to announce his decision on both charges until the threat charge has been “worked out.”
So we could be in for even more delays. Not to mention the fact that in all the articles I’ve read since this whole thing started I have yet to read any instance of where Tobin uttered an actual threat. Granted I only really see what is in the media though.
And more testimony of Joe Nee’s chicanery…
McLaughlin also pressed Kerns on the contents of a Trapper Keeper that police found in the Kerns home. Kerns testified that he had loaned it to Nee, but McLaughlin questioned why Kerns had possession of it and why it was filled with his own writings, not Nee’s, along with a map of the high school with the names of intended shooters, targets and people to be spared that was submitted as evidence. Neither Kerns’ name nor his initials are on the map.
Kerns said he had forgotten all about the Trapper Keeper and hadn’t realized that Nee had left it behind in the room where Nee had stayed in the Kerns’ home in May 2004. Nee had to leave the home when Kerns was admitted by his father, Ben, into a mental health facility.
McElligott said Nee knew that the Trapper Keeper and its contents, including the supply list in Kerns’ handwriting, were in the Kerns home, and specifically told police to look for it. He said Nee had already ripped up the papers that implicated himself, as Farley had testified. He said Kerns, however, didn’t have a guilty conscience, and didn’t feel any need to look for it and then throw it away.
Hopefully, we won’t have to wait too long for an answer from the Supreme Judicial Court and then a verdict. Tobin has had this hanging over his head for two years now.
Teen says friend was mastermind of Columbine-style:
More testimony from the trial of Tobin Kerns on the trial’s final day.
Here’s an item I didn’t know until today…
Kerns testified that he and Nee had gotten into a scuffle over Kerns’ girlfriend four days before Nee went to police and blamed Kerns for devising the plot.
To me, that shows me just one more reason as to why Joe Nee would try to implicate Tobin. Besides deflecting blame from himself Tobin’s arrest and possible incarceration would be Joe Nee’s revenge.
And it sounds like there will be more delays as far as the verdict is concerned…
Coffin said he does not know when he will issue a verdict in the case. Coffin is waiting for a ruling from the state Supreme Judicial Court on whether the law on threats requires that a defendant communicate the threat directly to an intended victim or whether the threat can also be communicated indirectly.
State prosecutors have asked the high court for clarification on the law.
Keep your fingers crossed that Judge Coffin makes the right decision.
Teen says he had no part in Marshfield HS plot:
Tobin Kerns testified in his own defense today but I don’t like where they’re going with it…
One of the two teenagers accused of plotting a Columbine-style attack at Marshfield High School in the fall of 2004 took the stand in his own defense today, telling a judge he had no part in the plan.
Instead, Tobin Kerns, 18, laid the blame on Joseph Nee, 20, who is being tried separately, saying he never took Nee’s scheme seriously. In Brockton District Court this afternoon, Kerns admitting egging Nee on in front of other teens, but only because he through it was a joke.
“I did not assist him in anything,” Kerns said in a confident voice.
I don’t like it when guilty parties use the “joke” defense. I like it even less when an innocent party uses it. It’s obvious that if Tobin was involved in the plan that he definitely had a change of heart. I think they should have focused on that rather than saying that Tobin had no involvement. Then again I didn’t go to any fancy lawyerin’ school.
Tobin is supposed to testify again tomorrow.
BULLETIN – Anarchy charge dropped in massacre plot trial:
The charge of promotion of anarchy has been dropped against Tobin Kerns…
The judge’s decision came after defense attorney William McElligott moved to have all the charges against Kerns dismissed.
In dismissing the anarchy charge, Coffin said the case does not appear to be one where those accused were attempting to recruit others to overthrow the government, even though school officials were allegedly targeted.
Prosecutor John McLaughlin asked for a stay of the decision so the matter could be brought before the Supreme Judicial Court.
Coffin denied the request.
“No. We’re at trial and the matter has been pending for a long time.”
As he left the courtroom for a short break, McLaughlin said to a colleague quietly but loud enough to be heard by others in the courtroom, “He just totally screwed us.”
The charges of threats to use deadly weapons at school and conspiracy to commit murder were not dismissed.
It sounds like that McLaughlin was basing his whole case on the anarchy charge. Let’s hope that’s correct.
Teen admits writing supply list for assault:
Yesterday Tobin Kerns admitted through his attorney, William McElligott, that he wrote out the list that contained the items one would possibly need to carry out a school assault…
The list was the final – and potentially most crucial – piece of evidence in a case prosecutors built largely upon teenage witnesses recollecting conversations they had two and sometimes three years ago with the defendant.
Police retrieved the list from Kerns’ home on Main Street in Marshfield after his arrest in September 2004. They found it in a bedroom that had been occupied by Joseph Nee, 20, Kerns’ former friend and the alleged mastermind of the plot. Nee lived temporarily with the Kerns the previous spring.
The list found in the Kerns home includes automatic guns, gas masks, a computer-hacking system, acid, bullet-proof vests, propane tanks, galvanized steel and an assortment of ammunition.
First of all, where would two teens be able to get all those items without raising suspicion? Secondly, if that’s only thing Tobin did I would be shocked if he even sniffed the inside of a cell. Thirdly Tobin was arrested on the word of someone who was also arrested on the exact same charges, Joe Nee…
Throughout the trial, McElligott has focused on Nee, portraying him as a manipulative, vengeful young man who tried to blame Kerns for the plot out of fear that Kerns no longer wanted to carry it out and was about to tell police.
As far as I’m concerned the charges against Tobin Kerns should have been dropped once Joe Nee was arrested.
This is a much more detailed article that yesterday’s about the trial of Tobin Kerns. I’ll just recap the highlights.
Daniel Farley and Joseph Sullivan both testified that Joe Nee destroyed evidence about the plot and tried deflecting guilt on to Toby Kerns. Like I’ve been theorizing Farley stated that Nee was worried that Tobin Kerns would report Nee. Farley said that Kerns never talked about Columbine unless Nee was present.
Marshfield High School 2006 graduate Tim Courchene testified that Nee, Kerns, Farley, and Sullivan tried to recruit him as a shooter but he declined. Courchene also testified that after Kerns received psychological help at a mental health facility that Tobin no longer wanted any part of the plot.
Assistant District Attorney John McLaughlin in his opening argument that Sullivan and Farley’s testimony would prove that Kerns and Nee conspired to recruit others in their plan. The only thing that I’ve seen the testimony prove so far is that Tobin Kerns got help and tried to get out the plot.
Students Testify In Marshfield School Plot Trial:
The trial of Tobin Kerns is finally underway. Read the article and watch the video. Does the media make Toby out to be a monster or am I just imagining things? However, from the brief media report about today’s proceedings, it looks like things are going the right way. Except for the police, it looks like the prosecution’s witnesses all point the finger at Joe Nee. On Wednesday the defense will present. For the sake of Toby and his family I pray to God he’s found not guilty.
The trial of Toby Kerns is supposed to get underway again this Monday, October 15th. For those of you who have not heard about this case, it’s been going on for the past two years. Toby was arrested for plotting an attack against Marshfield High School in Marshfield, Mass. The only problem is the person who turned him in is also implicated in the plot. Joe Nee, who is being tried separately, turned Tobin in but was arrested later after others implicated Nee. Joe Nee is the son of the head of the Boston Police union. Joe Nee also has a Columbine fascination and wore a shirt to school that had pictures of Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold that said: “Remember The Heroes”. In my opinion, Joe Nee implicated Tobin Kerns when Tobin opted out of the plot. Joe Nee has obvious police connections. My theory is Joe Nee implicated Tobin before Tobin could implicate Nee. For more details, you can check the Marshfield archives.
With any luck, Tobin will be exonerated.
Kerns trial slated for Oct. 15:
Excuse me, but I’ve heard this before…
I’m just over it,” Tobin “Toby” Kerns said last April.
With these words, Kerns, 18, captured the frustration and exhaustion he and his family have suffered through over the past two years-two long and cumbersome years peppered with bumps, curves, holdups and setbacks since his 2004 arrest.
But come October, it will all be over.
On Thursday, Judge Louis Coffin announced an Oct. 15 start date for Kerns’ trial, which will take place in Plymouth Juvenile Court. The trial will take place over the course of five days until Oct. 20, Coffin said.
Kerns was arrested for his alleged connection to a detailed plan to orchestrate a Columbine-like attack on Marshfield High School in September, 2004 after three students-Joseph Nee, Daniel Farley and Joseph Sullivan- all former MHS students, gave Kerns’ name to police in connection with the plot.
Nee, 20, was arrested in October of that year after Farley and Sullivan later came to police implicating his involvement in the planned attack. According to Kern’s father, Ben, Nee lived with them for a few weeks during the spring of 2004. He claims Nee, not his son, was the one behind the planned attack and was the one surfing dangerous sites on the Web.
Kerns and Nee are being tried separately on charges of promotion of anarchy, conspiracy to commit murder and threatened use of a deadly weapon, but both have maintained their innocence since their arrests. Nee, who was 18 at the time of the incident, is set to be tried in Brockton Superior Court while Kerns, who was then only 16, will be tried as a juvenile. If convicted, both could serve up to 43 years in prison.
Still no word on when Joe Nee goes to trial.