Judge: Milby will be sent to treatment under care of state

Matthew A. Milby Jr.

DIXON – Accused Dixon High School shooter Matthew Milby Jr. will be under the care of the state Department of Human Services for up to 2 years, a judge ruled this morning.

Milby, who is not mentally fit to stand trial, was acquitted of two of six felony charges at his discharge hearing this morning; he was found not not guilty of the other four, as is procedure in such a hearing.

The state proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt on two counts of attempted murder for shooting at then school resource officer Mark Dallas and gym teacher Andrew McKay; and two counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm.

It failed to show that Milby knew Andrew McKay was an employee of the school, which were elements of two other aggravated discharge of a firearm charges.

Ogle County Judge John Redington set a status hearing in the case for 90 days from now, at which time it will be determined if Milby has been seen by the DHS, which will start the cycle of the state receiving regular reports on his status.

If his fitness is restored during that time, the state can proceed to trial, which is State’s Attorney Charley Boonstra’s goal.

If it is not, the state can try to have him civilly committed up to 80 years, the maximum sentence for attempted murder, at the discretion of the DHS.

Public Defender Tom Murray had hoped to convince Redington that Milby took an Uzi 9 mm Luger to graduation practice on May 16, 2018, in the hopes that he would be shot and killed, and therefore did not intend to kill anyone.

Milby, 22, was found unfit to stand trial in February, and the judge agreed he was unlikely to regain mental fitness over the course of the next year.

At a discharge hearing, the judge hears the evidence against a defendant, but does not determine his guilt; rather, he determines if the defendant should be acquitted of a charge, or found not not guilty.


Kathleen Schultz

Kathleen A. Schultz

Kathleen Schultz is a Sterling native with 40 years of reporting and editing experience in Arizona, California, Montana and Illinois.