Porter Teen sentenced in school bus stabbing

Friday, September 10th 2004, 6:14 am

By: News On 6

WAGONER, Okla. (AP) -- A Porter teenager who pleaded no contest to fatally stabbing a classmate on a school bus was sentenced Friday to 10 years as a youthful offender, but could be released after serving less than three years.

Daniel Harley Dillingham, 16, is in the custody of the Office of Juvenile Affairs and will serve three years at the L.E. Rader Center in Sand Springs.

He could be transferred to the adult system after that if he doesn't comply with juvenile treatment, but could not be held more than 10 years.

Under state law, juvenile offenders can't be held past their 19th birthday.

Judge Sandy Crosslin, who sentenced Dillingham, ordered a review date for 1 PM on Feb. 25, 2005.

Dillingham pleaded no contest to first-degree murder in the Dec. 8 stabbing of Carl Andrew Robinson, 16, aboard a Porter High School bus.

Robinson died on the bus while Dillingham fled out the emergency exit in the back, only to be captured later in rural Wagoner County. Dillingham told investigators he was tired of Robinson's bullying.

Dillingham was originally certified to stand trial as an adult, but the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals reversed that ruling in June, sending the boy to juvenile court.

Defense psychologists say Dillingham suffers from depression and may be developing schizophrenia. The defense has argued that he needs the counseling provided in the juvenile system rather than punishment in adult prison.