Girl sentenced in d-Con case

LAKEVIEW, Ore. – A 13-year-old Lakeview girl who tried to kill two classmates by putting rat poison in their milk has been sentenced to up to 12 years in a juvenile detention center.

Holley Sweeney was ordered Friday into the custody of Hillcrest Girls School in Salem.

Lake County Circuit Judge Lane Simpson’s decision puts her in the facility until she is 25, with early release possible if she responds well to treatment.

On May 2, Simpson found Sweeney guilty of two counts of attempted murder, two counts of conspiracy to commit murder and two counts of second-degree attempted assault.

Sweeney and Stephanie Quesnoy, 12, put d-Con rat poison in the milk of two classmates Sept 19 during lunch at Daly Middle School. Quesnoy is to be sentenced May 22.

Sweeney showed no emotion during sentencing but later hugged her best friend’s mother and another friend, and began sobbing.

District Attorney David Schutt said the girls began planning the poisoning four days earlier after the victims put shaving cream in Quesnoy and Sweeney’s hair and insulted one of them at a slumber party.

Both girls testified that they wanted their victims dead.

Defense lawyer Valerie Wright, of Bend, asked the judge to consider foster care for Sweeney.

But Schutt sought detention, citing the seriousness of the incident.

Schutt said a psychiatrist, who did not testify, determined Sweeney had trouble determining right from wrong and told the psychiatrist she was hearing voices.

The victims noticed green crystalline pellets in the bottom of their milk cartons. Neither was injured.

The grandfather of one victim said Quesnoy and Sweeney and his granddaughter had been close friends for years.

“They went to school together and they were always at each others’ houses,” he said. “Everything seemed pretty good and then this happened.”