BUTCH MABIN / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Monday, March 27, 2006 6:00 pm
Joshua Magee, the former Malcolm High School student who took a gun and homemade explosives to school in 2004, will stay on as a resident patient at the Lincoln Regional Center under a treatment plan approved by a judge Tuesday.
Lancaster County District Judge Karen B. Flowers in November found Magee, 19, not guilty by reason of insanity to charges related to the incident. She then ordered the regional center to prepare a report in 90 days on Magee’s mental condition and a recommended treatment plan.
At the Tuesday hearing, Flowers approved the plan, which also was supported by the county attorney’s office and by Magee’s attorney, Chief Deputy Public Defender Scott Helvie.
Helvie, in comments after the hearing, declined to discuss details in the plan. In general, he said, regional center staff recommended Magee be treated on an in-patient basis at the hospital.
He said the court would review Magee’s case in one year at the latest. The review could be sooner if regional center staff conclude Magee’s treatment plan should be revised, Helvie said.
Magee drove to his high school March 16, 2004, with a bolt-action rifle and about 20 homemade explosive devices, including Molotov cocktails and modified rockets packed with drywall screws.
Magee opened and closed the trunk of his car several times but apparently did not remove the devices, investigators said. He later told the principal about them.
Prosecutors charged Magee with attempted first-degree murder, use of a weapon to commit a felony and use of an explosive device to commit a felony.
At Magee’s trial last August prosecutors argued that Magee, even if psychotic, was able to discern right from wrong the day of the incident.
Defense attorneys countered a mentally ill Magee believed he had been commanded by God to kill Malcolm students.
A psychologist testifying for the defense said Magee probably was suffering from schizophrenia with paranoia at the time of the incident.
Reach Butch Mabin at 473-7234 or at bmabin@journalstar.com.