Alleged co-conspirator in teen's murder pleads not guilty

CASPER, Wyo. — The Casper teenager charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the April 7 stabbing death of Bobby Maher, 14, at Eastridge Mall has pleaded not guilty in District Court .

Dominique Antonio Richard Harris, 15, was arraigned before Judge Kerri Johnson on Wednesday, June 26. He is accused of throwing Maher to the ground outside the mall before Jarreth Joseflee Sebastian Plunkett, 15, stabbed him twice. The encounter was filmed on a cell phone.

Brandon Booth, Harris' court-appointed attorney, told Judge Johnson that there was still a chance his client could plead not guilty by reason of mental illness or defect, as Plunkett did during his indictment last week. He said that decision would be made by the first pretrial conference, which would take place in at least 30 days.

The trial is currently scheduled for September 23, what Judge Johnson called a “fictitious” date. Booth said the exchange of evidence with the prosecution was still ongoing, but he currently had two terabytes of data to go through, most of it related to interviews and cell phone data from other child witnesses.

Harris and Plunkett are presumed innocent unless proven guilty or pleaded guilty. Both face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

At the defendants' joint preliminary hearing on April 18, Booth argued there was no evidence Harris planned to stab the victim.

“I don't think anyone in that group knew, maybe even (Plunkett) himself, that he was going to (use the knife) that day,” Booth said.

Harris was reportedly without a conservatorship and had been staying with Plunkett before the encounter. Booth questioned Casper Police Detective Tiffany Elhart during the preliminary hearing about their interview with Harris and her knowledge of Plunkett's character.

Plunkett allegedly told Harris he was going to “gut this guy,” referring to Maher, a detail noted by Chief Assistant District Attorney Blaine Nelson during their initial appearance on April 8, the day after Maher was killed. The conspiracy charge requires that there be an agreement between the individuals to commit first-degree homicide and that at least one person perform an overt act to commit it.

Harris is also charged with aggravated assault and battery for knocking Maher to the ground, the video shows.

The record shows Plunkett knew the victim from school and had been upset by perceived slights in the weeks leading up to the killing.

The victim's girlfriend, her close friend and others were approached by the defendants in an alley two days before the mall confrontation. A video of this meeting was also played during the preliminary hearing. In this video, Plunkett demands to know the victim's whereabouts. He is heard referring to the victim with racist slurs and asking the friend if he wants to pay “(Maher's) blood debt.”

According to Elhart, Plunkett had made statements in previous weeks that he was going to “shoot up” his ex-girlfriend's house, an event that never happened. Plunkett also allegedly consumed alcohol the weekend of the murder.

“Could it just be teenage slang and harsh language?” Booth asked Elhart.

The hearing began with a discussion of how the victim and his friend went to the mall that day after their respective girlfriends called them, saying the defendants were following them everywhere.

When Maher arrived, discussions within the group reportedly turned confrontational. Plunkett is accused of holding the knife to the chest of another boy in the group who was trying to deescalate the situation, according to the police report. The entire group, including Maher, moved to the front of the west entrance of Hibachi Grill. The encounter was filmed on a cell phone and this video was played in court. This showed that Maher “clearly did not want to fight,” as the police report states.

Another man allegedly kicked Maher after the attack. Maher got up and walked away briefly before collapsing. A witness attempted CPR until authorities arrived around 1:45 p.m. The witness said the juveniles were pointing and laughing as they ran away, according to state prosecutors.

Plunkett and Harris, who allegedly asked to borrow a passerby's phone for a ride, were found by sheriff's deputies minutes later in a nearby neighborhood. The knife was found in the snow near Outer Drive, where the suspects said it would be located, according to the report.

Investigators asked several witnesses if it was possible that Maher had been summoned to the mall as part of a frame-up, and all denied it, according to the affidavit.

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