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DECEMBER 22, 2016
DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO
A publication of
year means a new chance for healthy living. P14
Teen pleads guilty to murder conspiracy
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SkyView Academy student uses 10th birthday wish to help others P4
Brooke Higgins was charged with threat against Mountain Vista BY ALEX DEWIND ADEWIND@COLORADOCOMMUNITY
Brooke Higgins, one of two teenage girls accused of making a violent threat against Mountain Vista High School, pleaded guilty to solicitation to commit murder and conspiracy to commit murder at a Dec. 20 hearing. The plea deal subjects Higgins to three years in the Department of Youth Corrections — including the past year that she has been in custody — followed by four years of adult supervised probation. Higgins, 17, will be formally sentenced at a hearing scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Feb. 8 at the Douglas County Courthouse in Castle Rock. Higgins and the second teenager, Sienna Johnson, were arrested just over a year ago after a student reported a threat to the Douglas County Sherriff ’s Office through Text-A-Tip, a service that allows high school students to convey concerns about safety, drugs and other issues anonymously. The threat was to harm students and staff at Mountain Vista in Highlands Ranch during the week of Dec. 14. Johnson and Higgins, both sophomores at the time of arrest, were charged in January as adults with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder with extreme indifference and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder after deliberation.
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THE BOTTOM LINE
‘Clearly you don’t want a situation where some kids are in a different district even though they go to the same elementary school.’ Anne-Marie Lemieux, school board member | Page 5 INSIDE
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