South Portland teen awaits judge's decision on alleged school shooting plot

A South Portland teenager accused of planning a school shooting is now awaiting a judge's decision on whether he will have to serve time in Maine's only youth prison.

Tristan Hamilton, 17, maintains he should not be convicted of criminal solicitation of murder or arson after the Cumberland County District Attorney's Office contends he tried to enlist his classmates in a planned shooting at South Portland High School.

The two-day trial in Cumberland County Juvenile Court concluded Tuesday afternoon with testimony from his former friend and new evidence on social media.

District Court Judge Peter Darvin said Tuesday he would review the evidence and set a date in about three weeks to announce his decision. Darvin said that based on the evidence he has seen, Hamilton could simply be a child who “dabbled in offensive beliefs, speeches and role-playing,” or he could have actually planned an attack on the South Portland high school.

Juvenile courts have wide discretion in sentencing, or adjudication, which often involves orders to attend school or receive counseling and to submit to close supervision by prison officers for minors. Under state law, teenagers charged in juvenile court cannot be detained beyond their 21st birthday, regardless of the severity of the charge.

Prosecutors say Hamilton was fascinated by neo-Nazi ideology and the Columbine shooters, had access to weapons and intended to recruit others in his plan to shoot up his high school. But Hamilton's lawyers argue that the basis for those charges depends on the unreliable testimony of Hamilton's former friend, Logan Rall, 19, whom Darvin described as a “flawed” witness during a March hearing.

“Although our client has been presumed guilty in the court of public opinion, he is innocent of these charges,” Hamilton attorney Amber Miller said in a statement. “We are confident that the Court will evaluate the evidence presented and make the right decision. Our client looks forward to an acquittal on both counts.

Tuesday's debate focused on whether Hamilton could actually be convicted of criminal solicitation of murder, an unusual charge. According to Maine law, criminal solicitation occurs when a person intends to cause a crime that he or she believes is likely and induces or attempts to cause that crime to be committed.

Prosecutors argued, based on testimony from two Hamilton classmates, that the teen tried to enlist at least two students to participate in his alleged school shooting plan. Authorities say evidence shows he was planning the shooting for the 2024-25 school year, a “reasonable timeline” for an elaborate plan they say would have involved pipe bombs and other weapons .

But Mark Peltier, one of Hamilton's lawyers, said there was a “gaping hole” in the evidence needed to prove criminal solicitation.

Peltier argued that while prosecutors had evidence of Hamilton's intent to commit the crime and recruit others, they did not present enough evidence that the shooting was actually going to take place.

He said it was “not even close” to being an appropriate charge, and that it was like “trying to push a square peg into a round hole.”

Defense attorneys also objected to a separate count of arson Hamilton faces, linked to a June 2022 video where Hamilton set himself on fire with a Molotov cocktail at Wainwright Field while He wore a ghillie suit, a type of camouflage gear often worn by hunters or hunters. military snipers.

Hamilton's lawyers argued that arson should not apply because Hamilton was only putting himself in danger. But prosecutors said Hamilton also threw the bottle in the direction of the videographer.

“I always thought he was joking.”

A 17-year-old South Portland High School witness, whom lawyers referred to only as Jane Doe, testified Tuesday that Hamilton invited her to join him in his alleged school shooting plot, but that she always thought he was joking.

She said she was friends with Hamilton before his April 2023 arrest and shared his interest in “real crime,” particularly the Columbine shooting. She said she distanced herself from him because he made “racist” speeches that she didn't want to hear. And sometimes, she said, Hamilton would send her “creepy pictures” on Snapchat when she was home alone.

She also said Hamilton invited her to go out and set fire to Pride flags while wearing black hoodies and skeleton masks.

But she walked back some of the statements she made in an earlier interview with a South Portland detective, where she reportedly said Hamilton “scared her.” She clarified on the stand Tuesday that she was just afraid of being interviewed and seen as a snitch.

Prosecutors presented new evidence from the Snapchat exchanges between Jane Doe and Hamilton, although the judge found four pieces of that evidence irrelevant or incomplete.

One of them was an audio clip of a voicemail Hamilton allegedly sent to Jane Doe in May 2022, in which he allegedly said “not if we destroy the school's senior year.”

Jane Doe said she didn't remember the conversation they had before or after the voicemail because it had been deleted from Snapchat, which deletes messages that aren't saved within 24 hours, so the judge said he would not take it into account in his decision.

Other photos and videos showed Hamilton posing with guns and “dressing up” by wearing masks and bulletproof vests, as Jane Doe described it. And some Snapchat screenshots between the teens showed conversations about Columbine memes and Jane Doe referring to being “homicidal” while she was photographed at South Portland High School. She told the judge she was surprised to see she had sent Hamilton that message.

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