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Riham Feshir

Appeals Court affirms tossed counts in Waseca school plot

John LaDue makes court appearance.
Waseca Co. Sheriff deputies escort 17-year-old John LaDue into court in May 2014.
Elizabeth Baier | MPR News

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Updated: 4:10 p.m. | Posted: 11:29 a.m.

A three-judge panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals has upheld a district court's ruling to drop attempted murder charges against a Waseca teenager accused of plotting to attack his family and high school last year.

Prosecutors initially charged John LaDue as an adult for attempted murder, possessing explosives and criminal damage to property. In July, Waseca County Judge Gerald J. Wolf dismissed the attempted murder charges, citing a lack of probable cause because LaDue did not carry out his plan.

Police arrested LaDue at a storage locker in April 2014 when someone spotted him near a storage locker making what authorities say were preparations for the attack. Investigators later found a gun, ammunition, pipe bombs and gunpowder in a search of his home. They also found notes outlining his plans.

Storage facility in Waseca
A search warrant was issued to search this storage facility in Waseca in connection with a 17-year-old who was arrested in plot to kill family and massacre students at Waseca school. Authorities said Thursday, May 1, 2014, that they prevented an "unimaginable tragedy" by foiling a teenager's elaborate plot to kill his family and bomb the junior and senior high school in the southern Minnesota city of Waseca.
Glen Stubbe | The Star Tribune via AP

In their ruling, Court of Appeals Judges Renee Worke, Larry Stauber and Terri Stoneburner agreed that authorities found no evidence to support the attempted murder charges.

"Under the attempt statute, an individual must have intent to commit crime and must commit 'an act which is a substantial step toward, and more than preparation for, the commission of the crime,'" the judges wrote in their ruling. They noted that LaDue did not brandish, point or shoot a firearm at his intended victims; openly threaten them or transport the explosives to the school.

LaDue still faces charges for possessing explosives. He is being held in at the Prairie Lakes Youth Program's secure facilities in Willmar, Minn.