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South Ogden >> Just hours after his initial hearing before a prison parole board, 17-year-old Cooper Van Huizen received shocking news. Sitting in his cell on Tuesday, he was told he had been given a second chance. He was going to be released the next day.
Back home in South Ogden on Wednesday afternoon, the teen struggled to describe how he had felt in that moment.
"It was weird," said Van Huizen, who had at that point served six months of his one-to-15 year prison sentence. "A surprise."
Van Huizen said he hardly slept Tuesday night, thinking of all the things he had missed since he was incarcerated: his own bed, real food, his dog — and, like any typical teenager, his cell phone.
His father, Marc Van Huizen, thought they would wait for weeks before finding out when his son would be released from the Utah State Prison.
But on Tuesday — before he even had time to finish his drive home from the Draper prison where the parole hearing was held — the father got an unexpected phone call from his attorney informing him of his son's release.
"It's a wonderful day today," Marc Van Huizen said Wednesday. "Our prayers have been answered."
Six months ago, then-16-year-old Cooper Van Huizen was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty in adult court to two second-degree felony robbery charges for his role in a Roy home robbery where the victims were held at gunpoint by two other teen boys.
The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole administrative coordinator Greg Johnson said Wednesday that it is "unusual" for the board to release a prisoner the day after his initial hearing before the parole board.
According to a "rationale for decision" memorandum issued by the parole board, the board found no aggravating factors in Cooper Van Huizen's case. But 22 factors were checked as "mitigating factors," including the characteristics of the offense, the offender's traits at the time of his offense, the offender's background and rehabilitative efforts, and the victim's characteristics.
"I think the hearing officer, she laid her heart out on the table," Marc Van Huizen said of Tuesday's hearing. "I was truly impressed ... I know my son laid his heart out as well, and she could see what kind of person he is. I think that was the biggest part of it, I think they just saw who Cooper was and realized it was best to release him. He doesn't belong there."
On Tuesday, Cooper Van Huizen, shackled and wearing a white prison jumpsuit, had told board member Chyleen Arbon that being imprisoned has had a "really crazy impact" on his life. He said he didn't know why he was sentenced to prison, and thought his case should have stayed in juvenile court.
"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."
The next day, Cooper Van Huizen looked starkly different in a gray hoodie and jeans, instead of prison garb. He played with his phone, pet his dog and ate Chex Mix — all the things he had stayed up thinking about the night before.
The teen said Wednesday that he learned a lesson from his incarceration.
"I learned that your family and supporters are way more important than friends," he said. "I just need to stay at home. I never want to go back to a place like that again."
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.
"I was promised no prison," the teen said. "It was just a huge shock."
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 qualified as a "serious youth offender" and sent him to adult court.
Van Huizen thought he would receive a sentence similar to two co-defendants who were sentenced to between 180 and 120 days in the Weber County jail. 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.
Marc Van Huizen has said that his son thought the guns were going to be used for shooting practice, not a robbery.
Now, Cooper Van Huizen said he plans to move on with his life and will be starting school again at Two Rivers High School. He is a little behind, he said, but hopes to catch up and graduate from high school on time.
On Thursday, the teen and his parents plan to drive to the Daggett County jail — where he has been held for five of the six months he's been incarcerated — to collect his belongings.
Marc Van Huizen said his son also plans to meet with and thank the jail officers and sheriff — whom the teen now considers his "good friends" — for helping him while he was behind bars.
The teen will be on parole for 36 months, according to the Board of Pardons. Marc Van Huizen said that in addition to standard parole conditions, his son is required to meet with a mental health counselor and stay in school.
Cooper Van Huizen had been appealing his case to the Utah Court of Appeals. His attorney, Elizabeth Hunt, said Wednesday in an email that she hasn't time yet to decide where their appeal will go from here. Marc Van Huizen said he wants their appeal to continue.
"It's only half-time in the fight now," he said. "It's not just Cooper being released — that's an important factor — it's also to get the truth out in this case. I want my son to be able to reduce [the charges] to misdemeanors. My ultimate goal is for this to return to juvenile court."
Twitter: @jm_miller