ST PAUL, Minn. — A 17-year-old former student at Harding High School has pleaded guilty to his role in the killing of a boy at the school in February.
The former student, who was 16 years old at the time of the altercation, pleaded guilty to a 2nd-degree murder charge and 1st-degree manslaughter charge for the killing of 15-year-old Devin Scott.
The juvenile court adjudicated the teen guilty and imposed a 103-month, more than 8.5 years, sentence that will be stayed until he turns 21.
After his next court appearance on Nov. 29, the teen will be ordered to the Red Wing Correctional Facility to complete their program.
The Red Wing facility will determine the length (and type) of his placement, but youth tend to complete the program in 9 to 12 months, said a spokesperson for the Ramsey County Attorney's Office.
The 103-month sentence will remain stayed unless he fails to comply with the conditions of his probation.
According to the charging document, St. Paul police squads were dispatched to Harding just after 11:45 a.m. on Feb. 10 on reports of a student assault. When officers arrived they encountered lifesaving measures being performed on 15-year-old Devin Scott, who was in the midst of his first day attending school at Harding.
Scott was rushed to Regions Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Investigators spoke with Harding assistant principal Jayson Spence, who told them he was monitoring the halls between classes when he came upon two students fighting with another teen. The petition says Spence called for assistance, and once another staff member arrived the two intervened and pulled two students out of the fray. At that moment, Spence told investigators the third student got up off the ground with a knife and swung it, stabbing Scott in the right side of his chest. He says the defendant then lunged at Scott again, stabbing him in the stomach.
Another Harding staff member told police of witnessing the fight and seeing the defendant stab Devin Scott. He said he told Scott to go to the nurse's office, but that the victim said he was dizzy and then collapsed.
The petition says the entire incident was also captured on surveillance cameras, showing Scott and the defendant starting to fight before the third student, referred to as MB, jumped in and began helping Scott. After the two staffers pulled Scott and MB away from the brawl, prosecutors say the defendant was captured on video advancing and using the knife to stab Scott.
Staff security then arrived on the scene, detained the defendant and placed him in handcuffs. The defendant was reportedly agitated, telling security the two other students "jumped me. "
Prosecutors say the defendant was taken to the office and searched, and security staff recovered a four-inch knife with blood on it. An autopsy on Devin Scott revealed multiple sharp-force injuries as his official cause of death.
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