Douglas District Court Judge Paul King on Wednesday sentenced Brooke Higgins, 17, of Highlands Ranch, to three years in the Division of Youth Corrections after she pleaded guilty in a plot against Mountain Vista High School.
On Dec. 20, 2016, Brooke Higgins pleaded guilty in adult court to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, a Class 2 felony, for a plan to shoot students at the school. She also pleaded guilty in a separate juvenile court case to solicitation to commit first-degree murder, also a Class 2 felony, as an aggravated juvenile offender.
Wednesday’s sentence was for the juvenile count.
After Higgins completes her Youth Corrections sentence in the juvenile case, she will serve four years supervised probation with mental health treatment as part of the deferred sentence she entered in the adult case. If she successfully completes this probation sentence, she can seal the adult conviction.
“This agreement provided us the greatest opportunity to get the most public safety and justice for the community. What this defendant did was not just idle chatter,” said District Attorney George H. Brauchler. “At the same time, the agreement offers the best chance for rehabilitation for this defendant, who has accepted responsibility and has earned that chance.”
Higgins was arrested in December 2015 for her role in a murder plot at her Highlands Ranch high school. She has been in custody ever since and will get credit for time served.
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