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July 7, 1999
Charges dropped in NUHS bomb threat caseWitness says hisstatements werebased on hearsayBy SARA SYVERSON Journal Staff Writer NEW ULM -- The felony charge against the New Ulm High School student accused of making a bomb threat at New Ulm High School in April was dismissed Tuesday, after the key witness in the case told Brown County Attorney James Olson his testimony was false. The charge against Bryan Scott Hesse, 18, of New Ulm, was dismissed during an omnibus hearing Tuesday in Brown County District Court after Olson introduced a letter from Mitch Walters, 15, of New Ulm. Walters wrote that his original statements to the police were based on hearsay, not what he had heard Hesse say. "It's rather frustrating. If I did not have this piece of evidence against Hesse, I never would have brought these charges against him," said Olson. Olson introduced the letter from Walters, also a NUHS student, as an exhibit in the hearing Tuesday and made a motion that charges against Hesse be dismissed. On the evening of April 27, 1999, a custodian at the New Ulm Senior High School notified District 88 Superintendent Harold Remme of a handwritten note he had found in the third floor men's bathroom. The note stated the high school would be bombed the following morning. In the following investigation, three witnesses made statements implicating Hesse, and the testimony of Walters was considered crucial, according to Olson. In law enforcement documents, Walters stated he was getting a drink at the water fountain near the bathroom when he heard Hesse make the statement to someone that "If you don't have school tomorrow you can thank me." Walter's letter to Olson, dated June 28, 1999 stated, "The information that I gave to Officer Wiesner at the end of May was not accurate. I only repeated what other kids at school were saying. I was never at the water fountain and never heard anyone say anything about a bomb threat. I'm sorry." One other witness in the case did not show up to testify at a hearing. A third witness said her initial statement to police was simply repeating hearsay, said Olson. Regardless, the testimony of Walters was the basis for charging Hesse, Olson said. Hesse's response to The Journal following the dismissal of his charges was that he was unhappy with how things were handled by the newspaper, the radio station and others who accused him of this charge. He said that a person should be innocent until proven guilty. Hesse also said the first story written by The Journal pegged him as if he were guilty of this charge. "Our story reported the fact that Hesse had been charged with the threat, and gave the grounds for that charge," said Kevin Sweeney, managing editor of The Journal. "It was accurate, and is still accurate. The fact that the witness whose testimony is the basis for the charge has changed his testimony doesn't make us wrong for reporting what happened in May." Hesse's letter to the editor on the matter is published on Page 4A of today's paper.
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