Student, 15, Is Sentenced in Poisoning : Courts: The youth pleads no contest to assault charge for putting caustic solution in teacher’s soda.

The Littlerock high school student charged with trying to poison a teacher by pouring cleaning solution in her soda can pleaded no contest Monday in Lancaster Superior Court to one count of assault with a deadly weapon.

The 15-year-old student, whose name was withheld because of his age, was sentenced to spend three to five months in a county youth probation camp. He will then be returned to his parents and remain on probation at least until he turns 18.

Superior Court referee Eugene E. Siegel also ordered the teen-ager to make restitution to the teacher, who was twice hospitalized after the incident, for her medical expenses and write her a letter of apology. The youth must also avoid all contact with the teacher, maintain at least a C average and good attendance in school, and obey all laws.

A second charge against the teen-ager--adulterating a beverage--was dropped.

Siegel handed down the sentence after a brief hearing in which the nature of the offense was debated. A prosecutor called the poisoning “a very heinous act” whose “consequences are continuing to this day.” The defense attorney described it as “a practical joke that went sour.”

In handing down the sentence, Siegel pointed out that the youth has the support of his family and no prior police record. “I’m not willing to brand him as a person who can never be rehabilitated,” Siegel said.

But he also told the youth: “If you commit any act that hurts someone, you have to pay for it.” The Juvenile Court official warned the teen-ager that he will “go away for a long time” if he gets into trouble again.

The teen-ager did not speak during the hearing except to enter his plea and to acknowledge that he was giving up his right to a trial.

His victim, English teacher Susan Ennis, 32, sat on the other side of the small courtroom. She asked Deputy Dist. Atty. David A. Jacobs to read a brief statement in which she referred to the poisoning as “a senseless act of violence.”

In the hallway after the hearing, the teacher said, “I feel relieved that there’s some resolution here, and hopefully there will be some rehabilitation for this young person.”

The case began on April 7, just as Ennis had finished a lesson on John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men.” She took a last swig from her can of Diet Pepsi, which had been resting on an overhead projector stand, next to a bottle of cleaning solution.

The teacher immediately felt a burning sensation in her throat and began vomiting. She was hospitalized for six days after the incident. She returned to the hospital later in the month for treatment of pneumonia, which she said was related to the poisoning.

Ennis said she continues to have health problems linked to the poisoning. She said it has also affected her family, causing her three children to have nightmares. Her children protest, Ennis said, whenever she orders a soda.

“My own children are afraid for my life now,” she said.

Ennis has not been cleared by her physician to return to school. She hopes to resume teaching in the fall but has asked to be transferred to a different school.

Less than a week after the classroom incident, the 15-year-old student was arrested after he confessed to putting some of the cleaning fluid into Ennis’ soda can.

The defendant’s parents made no statements during Monday’s hearing. Afterward, the youth’s attorney, Ronald V. Taylor, said the incident was a misguided practical joke that had been blown out of proportion by reporters.

“I think everybody’s made too much of the whole thing,” he said.

Jacobs, the prosecutor, disagreed. “We must treat this very seriously,” he said after the hearing. “If you can’t be safe at school, where can you be safe?”