"He really is all right, we're going to be OK," Mindy Carter-Shaw whispered to Craig Miller. "I want you to know I don't feel any anger at all . . . we're going to turn this around."

The teary-eyed encounter happened Tuesday outside the 4th District courtroom where Miller made his first appearance on felony charges for the July 24 explosion.

Miller, a 45-year-old father of three, is charged with possession or control of an incendiary device, child abuse and obstruction of justice. The first charge, a second-degree felony, carries a potential 15-year prison sentence, while the two third-degree felonies carry a possible five years each.

Miller's attorney said they feel the charges are excessive for the circumstances of the case.

Carter-Shaw agrees, and said she hopes to persuade prosecutors to reduce the charges.

Bridger told her, "I don't want that man to be in trouble," she said.

The boy was riding his bike through his grandmother's Lehi neighborhood when Miller's fireworks, made of metal pipe and gunpowder, exploded, sending metal shards tearing through Bridger's body.

Bridger was hospitalized at Primary Children's Medical Center with a nearly severed leg, torn intestines and bones shattered in his pelvis and left thigh.

His condition has been improving "miraculously" since coming out of a medically induced coma and undergoing several surgeries, Carter-Shaw said, but his left leg is "not working" except for some feeling in his foot.

Bridger is expected to spend a couple of years in a wheelchair, she said, and he may opt for a prosthetic leg in the future.

Since having his breathing tube removed last week, Carter-Shaw said, Bridger has been talkative and demanding, keeping her running for water and juice every few minutes.

"I've got my baby back," she said.

Bridger has managed to stand up on one leg and is beginning some very simple physical therapy, she said.

"He sees his scars, he sees the open wound, he sees all the staples," Carter-Shaw said. "And he's said no, it doesn't bother him at all."

Miller's attorney, Mark Ethington, said news of Bridger's improvement is "the thing we're most concerned about."

Miller entered not-guilty pleas during the hearing, which Ethington said is standard procedure.

Ethington said he expects to discuss a possible resolution with prosecutors before Miller's next hearing on Sept. 30.

Deputy Utah County Attorney John Nielsen told reporters that prosecutors need to consider public safety and deterrence of future crimes, but are not vindictive and have no intention to "make an example" of Miller.