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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Life Sentence For Loukaitis Two Full Terms And 205 Years For Junior High School Killings

Staff And Wire

Barry Loukaitis was sentenced Friday to two consecutive life terms, plus nearly 205 years in prison, for killing two classmates and a teacher at a Moses Lake junior high school.

He will be sent directly to the state’s new Youth Offender Program, a 160-bed unit in a separate building at the Washington Corrections Center at Shelton, Wash.

The center was created by the state Legislature to manage juvenile offenders who are convicted as adults.

“In effect, the state is required to separate juveniles from adults by sight and by sound,” said Alan Adams, a Department of Corrections official.

Loukaitis will join the 46 inmates currently inside the youth center.

They remain there until they reach adulthood. Depending on when they are considered mature enough, the youths are later moved to other adult prisons, Adams said.

The mandatory life terms and additional penalties were imposed on the 16-year-old Loukaitis after emotional testimony from one member of each of the victim’s families.

Loukaitis was convicted last month of the aggravated murders of classmates Manuel Vela and Arnold Fritz, both 15.

He was also convicted of second-degree murder for the death of teacher Leona Caires.

Also testifying were Natalie Hintz, who was 13 when wounded in the shootings, two other girls who were in the classroom and the defendant’s father.

Loukaitis was pale and seemed exhausted as he sat in the crowded Grant County Superior Court room in a gray sweatsuit, handcuffs and ankle chains.

He bowed his head as the representatives of each family spoke, some reading letters from other family members.

“Hi,” wrote Nicolas Vela, now 11, whose 14-year-old brother Manuel was the first person shot when Loukaitis slammed into his fifth-period algebra class at Moses Lake’s Frontier Junior High on Feb. 2, 1996.

“I was 9 years old when my brother was murdered,” said the boy in a letter read by his father. “I’m still sleeping in my parents’ room at night,” fearful that Loukaitis might hurt him as well.

Vela’s father, also named Manuel Vela, said if it were up to him, Loukaitis would have been sentenced to death - not an option because of the defendant’s age.

The three killings “ended your own life here on earth,” Manuel Vela said. And after death, “if it were up to me I’d let you rot in hell.”

The family of Arnold Fritz - who sat behind Vela and was the second person shot - was represented by the dead boy’s mother, Alice Fritz, who read letters from the boy’s three older sisters.

Alice Fritz then urged Kittitas County Superior Court Judge Michael Cooper to help Loukaitis by placing him in a treatment facility until he is 21 - for accurate diagnosis and to help ensure he is “mature enough to accept his future.”

Loukaitis, 14 at the time of the attack, had pleaded innocent by reason of insanity. While jurors rejected the plea, psychiatrists on both sides agreed the boy suffers from depressive illness. The five-week trial was held in Seattle on a change of venue.

The unit where Loukaitis will spend roughly the next two years was opened only a few months ago.

The all-male group of 46 youths there includes three Spokane County teens.

Adams said the three do not include Kenneth Comeslast, 17, who was convicted in 1996 of the murders of two girls with an assault rifle on the porch of a northeast Spokane home.

Comeslast, said Adams, is housed at the Washington State Reformatory at Monroe.

Privacy laws for juveniles prevent the state from identifying the three Spokane youths at Shelton, Adams said.

Until a few months ago, the state allowed juveniles tried as adults to be housed within adult prisons.

“We realized that for many, this was putting people who are children into some pretty tough circumstances,” Adams said.

All juvenile offenders go through life-skill classes and education courses to assist them during their imprisonment.

If at the age of 18 Loukaitis is deemed mature enough to be moved to an adult prison, corrections staff will evaluate the best location for Loukaitis.

“The decision will be based on several considerations. One will be looking at where he might be closest to visits by family,” Adams added.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: Cut in Spokane edition

This sidebar appeared with the story: YOUTH JAIL Barry Loukaitis was sent directly to the state’s recently opened Youth Offender Program at Shelton, designed to house juvenile offenders who were convicted as adults. He joins 46 inmates, all males.

Cut in Spokane edition

This sidebar appeared with the story: YOUTH JAIL Barry Loukaitis was sent directly to the state’s recently opened Youth Offender Program at Shelton, designed to house juvenile offenders who were convicted as adults. He joins 46 inmates, all males.