Boy Gets 4 Years In Colville Plot

A Stevens County judge was asked Wednesday to decide whether the shackled 11-year-old boy seated before him, convicted of conspiring to murder a female classmate, posed a threat to society or was a victim of its failures. Ordering a sentence of more than four years, Judge Allen Nielson said releasing him would be a disservice to the community, rocked by the revelation in February that two Fort Colville Elementary students had smuggled weapons into the school with what police said was an intent to kill. “I have the primary conspirator here today,” Nielson said minutes before sentencing the boy, who will turn 12 later this week, to 176 weeks to 220 weeks confinement at Echo Glen Children’s Center in Snoqualmie, Wash. His co-conspirator has been serving a similar sentence since he pleaded guilty to charges in April/ Kip Hill , SR. More here. (SR photo: Colin Mulvany)

Question: Proper sentence?