The student is one of four charged earlier this month with two felonies for possessing and setting off illegal explosives. Prosecutors say three have agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges in exchange for their testimony against the fourth suspect. 18-year-old Nicholai Wasielewski of Ohio sits quietly by his attorney who says the MSU freshman was just along for the ride when Darby Dudley, Olivia Hudson and Sasha Savage executed a plan to throw an illegal firework at a home on Grove Street.
Mike Nichols, Attorney for Nikolai Wasielewski: "I'm not going to ask someone to take an oath and tell a judge that he committed a crime when his position is, he did not. He did nothing wrong."
Wasielewski is now the only student still facing felony charges. The others, all Okemos High School graduates, have agreed to tell the truth to avoid jail time. Darby Dudley says she's the one who got the fireworks, lit one and tossed it out the car window.
Darby Dudley, suspect in explosion case: "I'm friends with a resident of the house and just thought to do a prank on him, just a joke, get a laugh out of it. I know him, I didn't want to hurt him."
Michael Ogilvie, Grove Street resident: "I mean, it was a loud noise, so i know, it definitely caught my attention."
Mike Nichols: "You didn't feel harassed?"
Ogilvie: "No."
Nichols: "Didn't feel terrorized?"
Oglivie: "no."
But police say the explosives could have been deadly. Video was taken by a state police bomb squad, as they detonated two other explosives found in the students car.
Darby: "I didn't really know what it was actually."
Explosive testimony in a case prosecutors say they're taking very seriously. The hearing ended with no resolution. A judge will set a new date sometime next week. If convicted of a felony, Wasielewski faces up to twenty years in prison for each charge. |