South Carolina Lawyer Blog
The Associated Press reported on Sunday, May 6, 2007 that a high school senior who was arrested for writing a violent essay for an English class may return to school and will be allowed to graduate with his class.
Allen Lee, who wrote the essay on April 23, 2007 at Cary-Grove High School in Chicago, was arrested the next day on two misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct. Lee, an honor student with a 4.2 grade point average, was readmitted following negotiations with school district officials. According to Mr. Lee’s attorney, Dane Loizzo, the meeting with the school board officials resulted in an agreement that Allen Lee was “not a threat and never was a threat and he should be treated as such”.
Loizzo contended that charges against Mr. Lee were the product of paranoia as a result of the massacre of 32 students at Virginia Tech.
Lee’s essay read in part: ” Blood, sex and booze. Drugs,drugs,drugs are fun. Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, s…t…a…b… puke. So I had this dream last night where I went into a building, pulled out two P90s and started shooting everyone, then had sex with the dead bodies. Well, not really, but it would be funny if I did”.
Despite the graphic nature of Mr. Lee’s essay, his attorney said that the teacher had told students: “Be creative; there will be no judgment and no censorship.”
Mr. Lee had planned to enlist in the Marine Corp after graduation, but he was dropped from the enlistment program as a result of the charges. Marine officials told him that he could reapply if the charges were dropped.
Assistant McHenry County State Attorney, Tom Carol, said last Friday that they were willing to consider dropping the charges.