Suffolk Prosecutors Seek Dangerousness Hearing For Teen Charged With Gun Offense at School

Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office moved to hold a 14-year-old Roxbury youth without bail after he allegedly brought a loaded handgun into a Boston high school while awaiting trial on one robbery offense and on probation for another.

Assistant District Attorney Lindsey Weinstein of Conley’s West Roxbury District Court staff moved to hold the MALE JUVENILE pending a so-called “dangerousness hearing” under Ch. 276, Sect. 58A, of the Massachusetts General Laws. That statute allows a judge to hold a defendant accused of certain violent crimes without bail for up to 90 days pending trial upon “clear and convincing evidence that no conditions of release will reasonably assure the safety of any other person or the community.”

The defendant is not being identified publicly because he is a juvenile.

A clerk in the Juvenile Session of West Roxbury District Court ordered the youth held until Oct. 28 for such a hearing. At Weinstein’s request, the clerk also revoked his open bail for a December 2010 unarmed robbery in which the defendant and several others surrounded and beat another teen in Mattapan. The defendant was initially held on $1000 cash bail; in March, a judge reduced it to $100.

The defendant is currently on probation following a September finding of delinquency on a different 2010 case in which the defendant beat and robbed a different victim. Conley’s office recommended that he be held in DYS custody until the age of 18; a judge imposed 18 months of probation.

Boston Police responded to the West Roxbury Educational Complex at about 8:45 this morning for a report of a student with a firearm. Investigators believe the teen tried to enter the building through an unauthorized entrance, but was observed by staff members. The youth was stopped and a loaded handgun was subsequently recovered from his person.

The juvenile was represented by attorney Craig Collins. He will be back in court on Friday.