A former Naperville Central High School student was acquitted Tuesday of aggravated battery charges involving the April 2002 detonation of a homemade bomb in the school parking lot that injured another student.
DuPage County Judge Robert Anderson, who acquitted Colin Lovell after a short bench trial, said: “There isn’t enough evidence to convict him. His mere presence isn’t enough for him to be accountable.”
Lovell, 20, of Naperville, drove Jonathon Romero, 18, to school April 19. Romero, also of Naperville, was carrying household products with which he made a couple of bombs.
Romero threw one of the devices near the school’s tennis courts, and it exploded. Several minutes later, another bomb exploded in the parking lot near another student’s car, resulting in chemical burns to his face.
The injuries were not serious or permanent.
Romero pleaded guilty last month to reckless conduct and aggravated battery and was sentenced to 60 days in the County Jail.
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Compiled from RedEye news services.
