No more jail time for local teen

Lynchburg News & Advance
Published: February 20, 2006

BEDFORD - A Forest teen who brought a gun to Jefferson Forest High School last year will not go back to jail, a judge ruled Tuesday.

In May, the school’s principal, acting on a tip from another student, approached John Thomas Hess, then 18, who admitted he had the gun - a loaded .45-caliber pistol.

Hess had been facing a felony charge of carrying a gun on school property. He pleaded guilty to the charge in December, but Judge James Updike put off finding him guilty until this week’s hearing.

On Tuesday, the charge was reduced to illegally carrying a concealed weapon, a misdemeanor.

Updike sentenced Hess to 12 months in prison with a 30-day active sentence. Because he was given credit for time spent in jail from May 17 until Aug. 20, when he was released on bond, he will not have to serve any more time, said his lawyer, Webster Hogeland.

Bedford County Commonwealth’s Attorney Randy Krantz said that while not wanting to treat lightly Hess’ decision to take a gun to school, the circumstances in this case justified the lesser charge.

Hess told investigators that he brought the gun to school because he was afraid of being beaten up by other students. In April, about six weeks before he was arrested, another student beat Hess so badly that he went into convulsions and was hospitalized at the University of Virginia Medical Center.

The rumor was that friends of that student, who had been prosecuted, were looking for revenge, Krantz said.

“This case was as much about school bullying as about carrying a firearm onto school grounds,” the prosecutor said, adding later that bullying is “equally (as dangerous), or can precipitate a more dangerous situation.”

Bedford County school officials have chastised Hess for bringing the gun to school rather than talking to administrators about the problem that day. In an earlier interview, county schools spokesman Ryan Edwards said the teen had talked to an assistant principal about the threat weeks before and that the administrator had “gone to bat for him.”

Krantz did not address the adequacy of the school system’s response, but said it was undeniable that Hess continued to fear for his life. In an interview after Hess pleaded no contest to the charge in December, Krantz said a psychological risk assessment showed the teen was not a danger and did not take the gun to school for revenge.

Bedford County schools spokesman Ryan Edwards declined to comment on the case’s outcome Tuesday.

Hogeland said he appreciated the prosecutor’s consideration in the case and that Hess did not deserve to be “lumped in” with high-profile school shooters.

Judge Updike ordered that during two years of probation, Hess can’t own or possess a gun or live in a house with guns. He must also complete all mental health counseling advised by his probation officer.

Krantz said this was to make sure Hess deals with post-traumatic stress disorder from his April beating, not a reflection on his mental status when he brought the gun to school.

He is also forbidden from setting foot on Bedford County school property.