Defense attorney Gordana Misovski, left, and Marvin and Janice Osantowski hear the guilty verdict Tuesday.Macomb teen guilty in school terror threat
Osantowski could get 42 years in prison for Columbine-like massacre plot at Chippewa Valley.
Teen convicted
Andrew Osantowski could get 20 years in prison for each of two terrorism charges stemming from Internet messages in which he threatened to kill his Chippewa Valley High School classmates. What length of sentence do you think is fair?
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MOUNT CLEMENS -- The Clinton Township teenager accused of threatening a Columbine-like massacre at Chippewa Valley High School became the first person in Michigan to be tried and convicted under a new terrorism law passed after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
Nine women and three men spent six hours Tuesday deliberating the case against Andrew Osantowski on a pair of terrorism charges and a felony firearm charge, finding him guilty of all three.
"He made very severe, very specific threats about killing people," Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith said. "We are not dealing with a 17-year-old who was just misguided. He had an AK-47, he had pipe bombs, he had maps of the school, and he had specific names of people he was going to kill."
Osantowski's lawyer, Brian Legghio, vowed an appeal.
But Smith said he is confident the verdict would not be overturned: "We all saw ... the violent threats he had made to commit acts of terrorism at this high school."
Shane Smith, who will be in 11th grade at Chippewa Valley High next year, said he's relieved. "He shouldn't go unpunished for what he planned to do," he said. "I'm glad he got something for what he was going to do."
Mark Deldin, superintendent of Chippewa Valley Schools, praised the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office.
"I think this sends a very clear message that threats of terrorism or violence in our schools won't be tolerated," said Deldin. As the jury foreman read the verdict, the 18-year-old Osantowski bowed his head and appeared emotionless. His father held his mother's hand as she sobbed. He faces up to 22 years in prison if the charges are served concurrently, or 42 years if served consecutively. His sentencing will be July 11 before Circuit Judge Matthew Switalski.
Osantowski pleaded guilty Thursday to three charges of receiving and concealing stolen firearms before the trial began.
Police say he made the threats against Chippewa Valley through Internet chats with Idaho resident Celia McGinty, 16, who later turned the transcripts over to her father, a police officer. Osantowski's cyber rants, under the name nazi_bot_sadistic, were filled with anger toward schoolmates, family and minorities and laid out his plans for terrorizing the school.
The Internet chat was the basis for the prosecution's charges under a law that was enacted in 2002, after the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C.
Legghio said he believed the jury was swayed by the admission of evidence of weapons found in Osantowski's home. Legghio said the weapons should not have been introduced as evidence because they did not prove Osantowski intended to threaten terrorism with them.
"The evidence of the ammunition, the knives, the partially made pipe bombs were clearly inadmissible in a case which the crime is a typed threat," said Legghio. Osantowski e-mailed McGinty in Idaho during a three-week period in late August and early September. McGinty printed out the instant message conversations and gave them to her father, George McGinty, a cybercrime officer at Washington State University.
During his testimony Monday, Sgt. McGinty said the chats contained in the 12 pages of angry rants were cut-and-pasted excerpts from separate chat sessions.
Osantowski was arrested Sept. 16 at Chippewa Valley, which he had started attending 10 days earlier.
As he was being arrested, police were searching his parents' home. They seized three computers; videotapes that included images of Osantowski and his father shooting an AK-47; a camcorder with a tape that showed the teen showing off his arsenal; various Nazi books and memorabilia; and a stash of guns, knives, ammunition and pipe bombs hidden in a attic crawl space above his bedroom.
You can reach Edward L. Cardenas at (586) 468-0529 or ecardenas@ detnews.com.
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