OGDEN — A preliminary hearing was set Wednesday in 2nd District Juvenile Court for May 10-11 in the case of 16-year-old Joshua Kyler Hoggan, charged in what authorities say was a plot to detonate a bomb at Roy High School.
Judge Janice L. Frost then closed Wednesday’s hearing to media and the public, saying attorneys on both sides had requested the closure.
"You’ve pretty much already violated this young man’s privacy, with his picture and name all over the media anyway," Frost told reporters.
She said that, nonetheless, there are still issues to be discussed that are not legitimate ones for the press to observe. She did allow the five members of the media present to stay for discussions of scheduling for Hoggan’s case, including an April 4 update hearing to review preparations for the preliminary hearing.
The judge said that date would also be the deadline for any motions from media lawyers arguing against closure of future hearings in Hoggan’s case.
Hoggan and an accomplice planned to blow up an assembly at Roy High to "get back at the world" for unspecified reasons, according to charging documents, then steal a plane and flee the U.S. Friends of Hoggan who received texts of his plans alerted authorities.
Hoggan told Roy police of a fascination with the Columbine High School shooting rampage, even visiting that school’s principal for an interview in December.
Prosecutors have asked that Hoggan be tried as an adult. That request will be dealt with after the preliminary hearing.
State courts spokeswoman Nancy Volmer said after Wednesday’s hearing that if prosecutors are successful at the May 10-11 hearing, the certification question could be dealt with the same day.
Volmer said that after the media was asked to leave Wednesday’s hearing, Hoggan’s defense attorney, Scott Nickle, again asked that Hoggan be released from juvenile detention. The judge has twice denied Hoggan’s release in prior detention hearings, but did allow him furloughs with his parents for his mental health counseling.
Wednesday’s request for Hoggan’s release was continued for hearing Feb. 24, Volmer said.
In the certification motion filed Jan. 31, Deputy Weber County Attorney Letitia Toombs argued Hoggan should be certified because he threatened the entire student body and staff at the high school.
If his case is moved to adult court, Hoggan could be sentenced to five years to life in prison if convicted on the charge of first-degree felony possession of a weapon of mass destruction. If Hoggan’s case stays in juvenile court, he can be held only until age 21.
Fellow Roy High classmate and codefendant Dallin Todd Morgan, 18, is charged with the same offense in 2nd District Court. He has been free on $20,000 bail.
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