OGDEN -- A preliminary hearing is set May 14 for Dallin Todd Morgan in what police say was a plan with another teen to set off a bomb at Roy High School.
Morgan and his family and a group of supporters came and left without comment to assembled media after the brief scheduling conference Thursday before 2nd District Judge Michael Lyon.
But afterward, Morgan's lawyer, Pete Lowe, promised the preliminary hearing would be illuminating.
He said it will clear up some "patently inaccurate information" that has been released by authorities about the case, but he declined to elaborate.
"The preliminary hearing will allow the media to give a more balanced picture as to what actually happened in this case," Lowe said.
He said he will not comment further nor allow Morgan or his supporters to comment in the media to balance the coverage.
"The best case for him is for everyone to forget about him, so he can get an unbiased jury," Lowe said.
Calls to prosecutors for reaction to Lowe's statements were not immediately returned.
Morgan and Joshua Kyler Hoggan, 16, are both charged with possession of a weapon of mass destruction. Hoggan is charged in juvenile court, but prosecutors are seeking to try him as an adult.
The offense is a first-degree felony punishable by a prison term of five years to life.
Hoggan's preliminary hearing, and a hearing to certify him as an adult if the preliminary hearing finds evidence against him sufficient for trial, is set for May 10-11.
Last week 2nd District Juvenile Judge Janice Frost, ruling on a media motion, ordered the juvenile court proceedings against Hoggan open to the public, citing the number of alleged potential victims involved and the seriousness of the charge.
Morgan and Hoggan, according to the allegations, planned to detonate a bomb at a Roy High assembly, steal an airplane at Ogden-Hinckley Airport and flee the country.
Details emerged in January of the suspected plot after Hoggan texted a number of friends about the plans. School officials were alerted and contacted police. Planning had been under way since September, according to police, who released Hoggan's name, normally not done with juvenile suspects, as part of their investigation so others with information would come forward.
A preliminary hearing amounts to a mini-trial to ensure evidence is sufficient to advance a case to trial.
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