Bucksport teen found guilty in CD terror case

BUCKSPORT – A local teenager has been found guilty of the juvenile crime of terrorizing in connection with a CD he created with a classmate that included violent references depicting a high school shooting spree.

Jonathan Hayes, 18, of Bucksport was sentenced on Friday to the Department of Corrections until he turns 20. According to Assistant District Attorney Mary Kellett, Hayes likely will serve that sentence at Mountain View Youth Development Center in Charleston, where he is already serving time for an unrelated robbery. Hayes was 17 at the time of the terrorizing incident.

Hayes and classmate Colton Crane, who also was 17 at the time, were the members of the band Double S Rydas. They wrote and performed the songs on the CD, including “Shotgun Killing Spree,” which contained graphic descriptions of a shooting spree inside a high school.

Although the lyrics did not name anyone by name, the song specifically mentioned the shooting of the principal and vice principal along with teachers and students. The lyrics made reference to Columbine High School and, at the end of the song, to Bucksport High School.

When police were alerted to the contents of the CD in October 2006, they issued summonses to the two students, charging them with terrorizing. The two were not jailed.

Although some students were not bothered by the lyrics, other students and parents were concerned about the potential for violence at the high school.

The lyrics created a climate of fear for some at the school, and Sgt. Sean Gegan of the Bucksport Police Department said Tuesday that the judge’s decision confirmed the original determination by police officers that the threats on the CD constituted terrorizing.

“Our hope is that people will learn right from wrong from this judgment,” Gegan said. “There were a lot of concerned people and a lot of people scared [by the lyrics], and that fits in with the definition of terrorizing. I hope people will learn from it what they can and can’t do.”

The sentence was an appropriate one, according to Assistant District Attorney Kellett, who stressed that, in a juvenile case, a number of factors are taken into consideration. Factors include not only the individual event related to the charges, which are very serious, she said, but other factors in the defendant’s background.

“They are tailored to the individual,” she said. “Given this individual and everything that is going on in his life, I think this was an appropriate sentence.”

Hayes already is serving a sentence at Mountain View in connection with an armed robbery in 2007 at a Bangor convenience store. Hayes admitted he had taken part in the robbery and was sentenced in June to serve time at the center until he is 20.

The other student charged in the case is scheduled for a hearing in April, Kellett said.

rhewitt@bangordailynews.net

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