A preliminary hearing was continued on Friday, July 26, in the case of Zachary Fraley, the Homer High School student charged with first-degree terroristic threatening, a felony, for allegedly placing a bomb-like device at the high school that caused an evacuation of the school on May 16. 

Judge Margaret Murphy continued the preliminary hearing to 3:30 p.m. Aug. 23.

Fraley had been released on $1,000 bail at his first hearing on May 17. His Soldotna lawyer, Kenneth Cole, entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf then. 

Appearing telephonically on Friday, Cole said he was moving closer to resolution on the case and still waiting for discovery, that is, more information on the case. He asked for one last continuance. Cole agreed to waive court rules requiring an indictment and a speedy trial.  

The school evacuation happened about 8:55 a.m. May 16 after Homer High School Principal Allan Gee found a suspicious device that appeared to be a bomb in the B-wing stairwell. 

Fraley and a 16-year-old boy, also a Homer High School student, were arrested after the incident. The 16-year-old boy was referred to the Office of Juvenile Justice.

Fraley was charged under a section of the statute that defines first-degree terroristic threatening “as knowingly sent or delivered a bacteriological, biological, chemical or radiological substance or an imitation bacteriological, biological, chemical or radiological substance and as a result caused evacuation of a building, public place or area, business premises, or mode of public transportation.”