CASTLE ROCK – Prosecutors on Thursday morning charged a second 16-year-old girl as an adult in an alleged plot to unleash a deadly attack in December at Mountain Vista High School.
Brooke Higgins was charged with the exact counts lodged last week against her alleged accomplice, Sienna Johnson – conspiracy to commit first-degree murder under extreme indifference and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder after deliberation.
Her attorney, Dagny Van Der Jagt, called the allegations the equivalent of a "thought crime" and asserted that Higgins and Johnson were not close.
But prosecutor Deb Wrenholt insisted the plot was much more serious – an agreement between Higgins and Johnson to obtain weapons and carry out a murderous attack at their school close to Christmas.
For instance, she said that Higgins was infatuated with the two teens who murdered a dozen students and a teacher at Columbine – and that she had used her cellular phone to research how to buy a gun. And she said that Higgins warned a friend that she would text her the day of the shooting so she could stay home.
Judge Paul King set bail at $1 million for Higgins after she was charged as an adult. After that announcement, the girl wept as her parents consoled her.
Her attorney, Van Der Jagt, said she will file a motion to move the case back to juvenile court – something attorneys for Johnson also said they are planning to do.
The two girls were taken into custody Dec. 12 after Douglas County sheriff's investigators, acting on a tip, uncovered the alleged plot.
Numerous documents in the case remain sealed, and the full scope of the alleged plan is not clear. What is known is that someone sent a text message about the alleged conspiracy to Douglas County, using a system known as Text-A-Tip that was established in the wake of the Columbine tragedy. After looking into it, sheriff's investigators determined it was credible and took both girls into custody that same day. According to the tip, the girls were planning to carry out their plot the following week.
Outside court after the hearing, Van Der Jagt said she was disappointed that the case was filed in adult court and again asserted that Higgins and Johnson were merely acquaintances.
"They are distinguished," she said. "Those are very different personalities, different characters, very loosely associated at best."
Van Der Jagt, who asserted in a motion filed earlier this month that the case is based almost entirely on entries in her client's journal, something she said was written at the urging of the girl's therapist.
She said Higgins had "no mention of any type of plot in her writings."
"We cannot just take random people's thoughts and, again, specifically my client's case, this is a therapeutic journal," Van Der Jagt said.
Senior Chief Deputy District Attorney Jason Siers said, however, that the fact both girls were charged with the same crimes was indicative of the fact that prosecutors believed co-conspirators.
"The investigation leads us to believe that there is a connection between the two," Siers said. "Certainly the charge requires an agreement between the two of them in order to charge the case."
Of the nature of the relationship between the girls, Siers said, "the extent of that, how far that is, will be something that will be explored later."
Mountain Vista, located in Highlands Ranch, is home to roughly 2,200 students.
Higgins is due back in court Jan. 21 and has another court date Feb. 10.
Johnson is scheduled to be in court again March 30 and 31.
RELATED STORIES
Contact 9NEWS reporter Kevin Vaughan with tips about this or any story: kevin.vaughan@9news.com or 303-871-1862.
(© 2016 KUSA)
