Witness in '05 school plot case says he can't recall many details

Joseph Nee and his father, Thomas, sat in Brockton Superior Court yesterday. Joseph Nee is charged with plotting to launch a Columbine-style attack on Marshfield High School in 2005. (GREG DERR/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

BROCKTON - A key witness in an alleged conspiracy to attack and kill students and staff at Marshfield High School testified yesterday that he could not recall many details of the plot.

Daniel Farley took the stand yesterday and testified against his former friend and classmate, Joseph Nee, who is charged with conspiracy to commit murder, promotion of anarchy, and threatening to use deadly weapons at school.

Nee, who waived his right to a jury yesterday and opted for a bench trial before Judge Charles M. Grabau, pleaded not guilty to the charges. The 21-year-old faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted.

Farley, who was granted immunity in exchange for his testimony, said during cross-examination: "It's been dragged out so many years, everything's foggy. . . . I cannot give an accurate testimony."

Thomas Drechsler, Nee's lawyer, said Farley's testimony differed in the trial of codefendant Tobin Kerns, who was convicted in the plot in September and sentenced to 10 months in jail.

Neither Nee's lawyer nor the prosecutor would comment on Farley's testimony or its possible impact on the case.

Nee's trial is scheduled to resume today in Plymouth Superior Court in Brockton.

Prosecutors have accused Nee of conspiring with three classmates - Farley, Kerns, and Joseph Sullivan - to launch a deadly attack on Marshfield High on April 20, 2005, to coincide with Hitler's birthday and the anniversary of the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. (The target date was later moved to April 15, because of school vacation.) The plan was to bring ammunition and explosives into the school, secure the school's exits with bicycle locks, and shoot students and staff at dismissal time, prosecutors said.

In September 2004, Nee went to the Marshfield police station with Farley and Sullivan and told officers that Kerns had been the master mind of the plan. Sullivan, who also has been granted immunity in exchange for testimony, is expected to testify today.

In her opening statement yesterday, prosecutor Karen O'Sullivan said the plan had been initiated by Nee, who allegedly told Farley in December 2003: "Wouldn't it be funny if I shot up Marshfield High School?"

Nee appeared in court yesterday dressed in a dark gray suit, collared shirt, and light blue tie. He listened as Farley described him as being obsessed with Columbine shooters Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, who ended their rampage in suicide.

"At one point, he said he wanted to be exactly like Eric Harris," Farley said yesterday.

Drechsler said several of Farley's statements were inconsistent with what he said when he testified at Kerns' trial in October 2006 and during the grand jury investigation in October 2004.

Drechsler also pointed out that Nee had written a book report about the Columbine shooting, which suggested why he may have discussed the topic.

"Mr. Nee didn't do anything that Mr. Farley and Mr. Sullivan didn't do," Drechsler said during his opening statement in Plymouth Superior Court. "My client deserves the same outcome as Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Farley."

Kerns was found guilty of threatening to use deadly weapons and conspiracy to commit murder. He is being held at the Plymouth House of Correction.

Nee has been free on $20,000 cash bail since January 2005 on the condition he stay away from witnesses in the case, stay away from Marshfield schools and school-related events, undergo random drug testing, and obey a curfew. Nee told the judge yesterday that he is in his second year at Bunker Hill Community College.

His father, Thomas J. Nee, president of the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association, said after the nearly seven-hour hearing that he was glad to finally be in court.

"This is where the truth comes out," he said. "I have faith in the system."

Emily Sweeney can be reached at esweeney@globe.com.