CROWN POINT -- The Gary teen accused of murdering a Lew Wallace High School student at the entrance of the school received a Sept. 10 trial date at a hearing Thursday morning.
Donald Ray Burt Jr., 17, of 1003 W. 49th Ave., is charged with murder in connection with the March 30 death of Neal Boyd, 16, of Gary, who was shot as he got off a bus in front of the school shortly before 8:30 a.m. Boyd, a sophomore, died at the scene.
Walter Alvarez and Ben Murphy, attorneys for Burt, asked Lake Criminal Court Magistrate Kathleen Sullivan for additional time to obtain and study ballistics and other forensic reports from the county sheriff's crime lab. Sullivan granted the request and ordered the prosecution to turn over the evidence.
Deputy Prosecutor Nicole Spicer asked Sullivan for school records of Burt's, and after objections by defense counsel, Sullivan compromised by ordering the school to write a letter detailing answers to Spicer's questions but did not allow a wholesale examination of the records.
Spicer said she was looking for evidence that Burt was not supposed to be at the school on the day of the homicide, having been suspended. She was also seeking the reason Burt was suspended or expelled from school.
The day of the shooting, Lew Wallace Principal Clausell Harding said Burt, whom he described as a "no-show," had been removed from the school rolls on Nov. 1, 2000.
Shortly after being hired, Alvarez said he planned to use a self-defense argument. Burt's father told reporters after the shooting his son was actually trying to protect Boyd from someone else when he fired the shot.
Indiana law allows a self-defense argument to be made if a person is acting to defend himself or a third party from serious bodily harm or death.
--Mark Kiesling can be reached at markk@howpubs.com or (219) 662-5330.
