Attorney: Someone's paying for Chardon shooting suspect to stay at juvenile facility

CHARDON, Ohio - The teen suspected of killing three students at Chardon High School will stay a youth detention center, thanks to someone paying the bill.

TJ Lane, 17, is accused of opening fire in the school’s cafeteria on Feb. 27, killing three students and injuring two others. Just last month, a juvenile court judge ruled that Lane would be tried as an adult, but he is not being held at the Geauga County Jail with other adult inmates.

On Monday, a motion was filed in the Geauga County Court of Common Pleas to allow Lane to remain at the Portage-Geauga Juvenile Detention Center. He was supposed to be moved to the jail this week.

The teen’s defense attorney, Ian Friedman, said on Wednesday that Lane will stay at the youth facility in Ravenna while he awaits his trial, which is scheduled to start on Aug. 14. Friedman also said that someone is paying for the suspected shooter’s stay, but he would not go into detail on where the money is coming from or how much that costs.

The Plain Dealer reported that the estimated cost to hold an inmate at a detention center would be about $120 a day.

Lane was indicted on three counts of aggravated murder, two counts of attempted aggravated murder and one count of felonious assault. He pleaded not guilty to those charges. Prosecutors said Lane chose his victims at random and admitted firing 10 shots inside the high school.

Friedman said more motions will be filed in the coming weeks.