Date: November 3, 2011

By Michael R. Sisak

Attorneys for a teenager accused of gunning down his great-grandfather asked a judge Wednesday to bar prosecutors from using certain items seized through a search warrant, including a black notebook that contained a macabre to-do list.

Despite being told about the notebook, investigators never listed it in a section of the search warrant application requiring them to "identify items to be search for and seized," attorneys for the defendant, Cody Lee, said in a court filing.

Investigators also failed to list on the application a black backpack belonging to Lee and had no cause to search for it, the attorneys, Peter Paul Olszewski Jr., Melissa A. Scartelli and Charles A. Rado, said. Senior Judge Joseph M. Augello scheduled a hearing on the request for Nov. 21, the same day as a previously scheduled hearing on the attorney's push to move Lee's case to juvenile court. Augello scheduled another hearing for Nov. 14 on the attorney's request to strike a prosecution psychiatrist's testimony. According to prosecutors, the then 16-year-old Lee shot his great-grandfather Herbert Lee, 80, at point-blank range with a shotgun inside the family's Lake Township home in December 2009. Lee shared his plans with classmates at Lake-Lehman High School, opening the black notebook to floor plans of his home and a to-do list that said: "Kill grandpa," prosecutors said.

If Lee is convicted of first-degree murder as an adult, he could be sentenced to life in prison. If he is convicted on a third-degree charge, he could spend 20 to 40 years behind bars. In juvenile court, Lee would face a maximum penalty of detention until he turns 21.