This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Draper • For 17-year-old Cooper Van Huizen, his senior year is a "big year."
He is looking forward to graduating from high school, he told a parole board member Tuesday, and to walking in his cap and gown at his commencement to receive his diploma.
And maybe he'll get his wish. After the teen's hearing before the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole, the board decided to release Van Huizen on parole. He is scheduled to leave prison on Wednesday, said Brooke Adams, spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections.
Six months ago, then-16-year-old Van Huizen was sentenced to spend 1-to-15 years in prison after pleading guilty in adult court to two second-degree felony robbery charges.
Since 2nd District Judge Ernie Jones ordered the prison sentence in May, the teen's parents have fought it, saying they did not receive solid legal advice from the boy's defense attorney. The parents thought a plea deal would shield the boy, who had no previous criminal history, from the prison sentence.
On Tuesday, Van Huizen told Arbon that he didn't know why he was sent to prison and didn't feel it was fair.
"Neither one of my attorneys defended me at all," he said. "...I don't think it ever should have left juvenile court."
Van Huizen said he hoped to be released so he can stay close to his family and finish high school and work on getting a degree in engineering. He said prison has had "a really crazy impact" on his life, and that he has been depressed and sad.
"This honestly made me a completely different person," he said as his mother, seated behind him, wiped tears from her eyes. "It's made me think about everything. I've never really messed up before in my life before this. I never want to come back to a place like this."
According to a victim's statement to police, a group of teenage boys — of which Van Huizen was the youngest — entered his Roy home on Nov. 19, 2013, and held him and another person at gunpoint. The boys demanded money, cell phones and a stash of marijuana.
The victim told police that, after being ordered to lie facedown on the floor, "I thought I was going to get shot in the back of the head."
Because Van Huizen was 16 and the crime involved the use of a dangerous weapon, a juvenile court judge decided he was a "serious youth offender" and sent him to adult court.
Van Huizen thought he would receive a sentence similar to his co-defendants, Joshua Dutson, now 18, and Tomek Perkins, now 20, who were sentenced to 210 days and 180 days in jail, respectively. Instead, Jones handed down the prison sentence, indicating at the May hearing that the harsher sentence was because Van Huizen provided the firearms used in the robbery.
When asked Tuesday whether he knew the plan was to rob somebody that November day, Van Huizen told Arbon that his attorney asked him not to talk about it. He said Dutson was the only one of the four boys whom he knew before the day of the robbery.
"I don't plan on talking to any of them ever again," he told Arbon.
Two others involved in the November robbery also have been sentenced to prison. Dexter Skinner, now 19, was sentenced to spend up to life in prison after pleading guilty to one count of first-degree felony aggravated burglary and two counts of second-degree felony robbery. An aggravated robbery charge and robbery charge in two unrelated cases were dismissed for Skinner as part of plea negotiations, according to court records.
Wesley Brown, also 19, was sentenced in June to 1-to-15 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree felony burglary and two charges of second-degree felony robbery. That sentence was ordered to run concurrent to another second-degree felony robbery conviction for Brown, who was accused of taking the victim's cologne and when confronted, brandished a handgun.
Less than a month after he was sentenced to prison, Van Huizen was moved from the Draper facility to the Daggett County Jail. He is one of about 80 prison inmates housed at the county jail.
Van Huizen is currently appealing his case to the Utah Court of Appeals.
Twitter: @jm_miller