Prosecutors who charged a Waseca teen with attempted murder in an unfulfilled family- and school-massacre plot have been ordered to pay more than $10,000 to his defense after courts threw out the most serious charges against the boy.
Attorneys for John LaDue are entitled to reasonable fees and costs for his pretrial prosecution appeal, according to a state appeals court order filed Wednesday. The court ordered that the prosecuting authority – the Waseca County Attorney's Office in this case – pay $10,500 for attorneys fees and $119.44 for briefing expenses and postage.
LaDue, who was 17 at the time of his arrest in April, 2014, is in custody in a youth facility in Willmar. He still faces six counts of possession of explosive devices.
Found with bombs, guns and a detailed notebook that laid out his plan, LaDue prepared for the attack but never took actions that warranted the attempted murder charges the state wanted to convict him of, the appeals court found in March. It affirmed a district judge's ruling that dismissed four counts of attempted first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree damage to property.
