A plea deal is in the works for a former San Ysidro High School student, accused of bringing homemade bottle bombs to school.
If convicted, Elphbert Laforteza, 18, faces six years in prison.
Laforteza, a former honor student, star athlete and by all accounts a good kid who made a big mistake, was in court Thursday with his family and a few friends.
He's publically admitted to bringing a dozen homemade bottle bombs to San Ysidro High School in June.
Attorneys were hoping to work out the details of a plea deal, prior to a readiness hearing scheduled for Thursday. Instead, the hearing was postponed until next Tuesday.
Outside of court, his attorney said the deal would involve Laforteza entering a guilty plea. The charges would then be reduced to a misdemeanor with community service as the penalty.
Laforteza is charged with three felony counts including possession of a destructive device.
San Ysidro High School went into lockdown on June 5 after six bottle bombs exploded. Several plastic bottles containing some type of acid and another unidentified substance were set in trash cans a few feet from where students were having lunch. No one was hurt, but the bombs were big enough to have hurt or possibly killed someone, investigators said.
Since his arrest, Laforteza has expressed remorse for his actions, but the damage was done.
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“I feel like I’ve let down everybody who has been really close to me: my parents, who have been there through everything, all my friends, the student body that has looked up to me and, especially, my teachers, who have done nothing but help me, teach me everything that they could,” Laforteza said a few days after the incident.
He had an ROTC scholarship and acceptance letters to colleges revoked. He did receive his diploma but did not "walk" with the rest of his class during graduation ceremonies.
His attorney said Thursday that the primary goal of the plea deal is to allow Laforteza to pursue his college education.
"We're tying to fashion a resolution to the case, that really helps Elphbert get into school and also satisfies what the district attorney's looking for in way of punishment,” said attorney Daniel Smith.
The prosecutor assigned to the case was not in court for the re-scheduling of the next date.
Laforteza's mother, who did not allow her son to talk to reporters outside court, said she just wants to get this over with and see her son pursue his college education.
