State v. Jack Sawyer

Summary

The Vermont Supreme Court reviewed an order holding Jack Sawyer without bail on charges arising from an alleged planned mass shooting at Fair Haven Union High School. The court held that, under Vermont’s definition of criminal attempt, the evidence showed only preparatory acts and was not great enough to support the charged attempted offenses, reversing and remanding the hold-without-bail order.

Holdings

1. The evidence was not great that Sawyer had attempted to commit any of the charged crimes, so the State failed to satisfy the evidentiary prerequisite for holding him without bail.
2. Under Vermont law, an attempt requires intent to commit a crime coupled with an act sufficiently proximate to the crime's completion that, absent interruption, it would likely culminate in the completed crime; mere preparation does not constitute an attempt.
3. Vermont's attempt law is governed by the proximity and commencement-of-consummation standard of Hurley, not the Model Penal Code substantial-step standard; Vermont does not recognize abandonment as a defense once the required overt act constituting an attempt has occurred.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the evidence of guilt was great under the Vermont Constitution and 13 V.S.A. § 7553 so that Sawyer could be held without bail on charges punishable by life imprisonment.
2. Whether Sawyer's conduct satisfied Vermont's legal definition of an attempt to commit the charged crimes.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded