Retrial set for Rochester teen accused of school shooting plot

ROCHESTER, Ind. (WNDU) - New details at the Fulton County Courthouse.

Attorneys discussed 19-year-old Johnny Schultz’s second pretrial conference over the phone.

They went over details ahead of a new trial for the teen accused of planning Columbine-style shootings at Rochester and Caston High Schools.

16 News Now spoke with the Fulton County Prosecutor and he says they’ve set a date for jury selection on Friday, December 10th with the trial starting that following Monday, December 13th.

Attorneys spoke in chambers over the phone for Johnny Schultz’s second pretrial conference.

A jury failed to come to a unanimous verdict back on July 28th.

After seven hours of deliberation, the judge ruled a mistrial.

“Obviously that burned us getting an 11-1 guilty [verdict] but you’ve got to get everybody on board. So I think we made a poor decision, or I did, keeping a particular juror on and we’ll try to do a better job of that. I guess, trust your gut instincts and get him off if you should because we didn’t and it cost us having to retry it,” said Fulton County Prosecutor Michael Marrs.

Jury selection will happen on Dec. 10th in Miami County.

At 9:00 A.M. on Monday, Dec. 13th, jurors will come to the Fulton County Courthouse for the trial expected to last through Wednesday.

Schultz faced a level-2 felony for conspiracy to commit murder and two level-6 felonies for intimidation and possession of meth during the July trial.

Prosecutors are adding back the third level-six felony for possession of heroin now that they have more time to receive lab results.

“I think the last time the State made a really good case, we just left on a juror we shouldn’t have and that cost us, so you never know. It’s two different juries so you can’t rely on what you did last time but I think we’ll be prepared, we’ll bring the case, and hopefully, we get a conviction,” Marrs said.

Marrs says they still plan on having all the witnesses who testified in the first trial take the stand in December as well.

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