ATLANTA (AP) — A teenager accused of killing four people nearly two years ago at Apalachee High School in Georgia is due in court Friday for a plea and sentencing hearing.Colt Gray, 16, previously pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges in the Sept. 4, 2024, shooting that killed two students and two teachers, and left several others wounded, at the high school about 45 miles (73 kilometers) northeast of Atlanta.Barrow County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm has set a “Non-Negotiated Plea and Sentencing Hearing” to begin Friday. Gray's trial had been scheduled to start in mid-October in Columbia County, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from where the shooting happened, after the judge agreed to a defense request for a change of venue.A jury in March convicted Gray's father, Colin Gray, on charges including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter, and he is scheduled to be sentenced next week.
Prosecutors said the elder Gray gave his son the assault-style rifle used to open fire at the school.Teachers Richard “Ricky” Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53, and students Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, died in the shooting. Another teacher and eight more students were wounded, seven of them hit by gunfire.A non-negotiated plea means that the state and the defense have not reached an agreement on a sentence. Unlike a negotiated plea deal, in which a defendant often pleads guilty in exchange for an agreed-upon sentence and possibly reduced charges, sentencing is left entirely to the judge.
The judge decides the sentence after hearing each side’s summary of the case, evidence and sentencing recommendation.Prosecutors have indicated in court filings that they intend to call teenage victims and witnesses to testify and to show surveillance video and crime scene photos during Friday's hearing. They have also noted that they may introduce a slew of records, including 911 calls and Colt Gray's school, medical and social media records.Gray's defense attorney wrote in a court filing that he plans to call a psychologist, someone who works at the juvenile detention center where he has been held and his grandmother to testify.Gray, who was 14 at the time of the shooting, was charged as an adult with 55 total counts, including murder in the four deaths and 25 counts of aggravated assault.Investigators testified that the teenager carried …
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