Teen arrested for violent essay is reinstated

updated 6:17 p.m. ET May 7, 2007

CHICAGO - A high school senior arrested for writing a violent essay for an English class can return to school and will be allowed to graduate with his class, his attorney says.

Allen Lee wrote the essay April 23 at Cary-Grove High and was arrested the next day on two misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct.

The decision to readmit Lee, an honors student with a 4.2 grade-point average, followed negotiations with school district officials, said attorney Dane Loizzo.

"We all reached the same conclusion, which is that he's not a threat and never was a threat and he should be treated as such," said Loizzo.

Loizzo contended the charges were a product of paranoia, born of the previous week's massacre of 32 students at Virginia Tech.

Lee's essay read, in part: "Blood, sex and booze. Drugs, drugs, drugs are fun. Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, s...t...a...b... puke. So I had this dream last night where I went into a building, pulled out two P90s and started shooting everyone, then had sex with the dead bodies. Well, not really, but it would be funny if I did."

Loizzo said the teacher had told students: "'Be creative; there will be no judgment and no censorship.'"

Lee had planned to enlist in the Marine Corps after graduation, but he was dropped from the enlistment program because of the charges. Marine officials said he could reapply if the charges were dropped.

Loizzo said he will ask McHenry County prosecutors on Monday to drop the charges. "We're willing to consider the matter," Assistant McHenry County State's Attorney Tom Carroll said Friday.

School district officials declined to comment.

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