Teen suspected of mall stabbing pleads not guilty by reason of mental illness

CASPER, Wyo. — The teen accused of fatally stabbing 14-year-old Bobby Maher at Eastridge Mall on April 7 has pleaded not guilty by reason of mental illness or deficiency.

Jarreth Joseflee Sebastian Plunkett, 15, entered a guilty plea as well as a traditional not guilty plea during his arraignment in District Court before Judge Catherine Wilking Friday afternoon.

Plunkett will undergo an evaluation at the Wyoming State Hospital to determine whether he “lacked substantial capacity either to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law,” as stated in the relevant law.

Plunkett remains incarcerated on half a million dollars cash-only bail. His public defender, Curtis Cheney, did not ask for a bond reduction Friday, but indicated he could address it later.

Plunkett is presumed innocent until proven guilty or pleaded guilty.

Plunkett is charged with four counts, including first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and aggravated assault and battery. He is also charged with misdemeanor theft for allegedly stealing the murder weapon, a kitchen knife, from Target just before the deadly encounter.

Dominique Harris, 15, also charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, has not yet been arraigned. Investigators say Harris threw Maher to the ground moments before Plunkett stabbed him. Plunkett allegedly told Harris two days before the homicide that he was going to “dump this guy.”

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

“I don’t think anyone in that group knew, maybe not even [Plunkett] himself, that he was going [to use the knife] that day,” Booth said.

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 and close friend were approached by the defendants in an alley on Friday April 5. A video of this meeting was also played during the preliminary hearing. In it, 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.

The hearing began with a discussion about how the victim and his friend went to the mall that day after their respective girlfriends called them, telling them that 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.

Harris is presumed innocent until proven or pleaded guilty.

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