Teen Has Mental Disorder, Expert Says But Judge Rules Testimony From Psychiatrist Who Interviewed Loukaitis Will Be Sealed

There’s a “mental reason” behind Barry Loukaitis’ deadly attack on a Moses Lake classroom, his defense attorney said Thursday.

But a Grant County judge decided to keep it secret - for now.

Before calling his first witness in a four-day hearing to determine whether Loukaitis, 15, will be tried as an adult, attorney Garth Dano promised evidence to help explain “why Barry did what he did.”

In an opening statement to the judge, Dano rejected the prosecution’s contention that February’s triple murder at Frontier Junior High School was premeditated.

“There are factors in his history, which we will point out; in his home life, which we will point out,” Dano said. “Barry is a blank slate … and on that blank slate many things were laid that led him to Feb. 2, 1996.”

Despite tearful pleas by the victims’ families, Judge Evan Sperline granted Dano’s request to seal the testimony of a psychiatrist who examined Loukaitis after the shootings.

Sperline said state law requires that evidence of Loukaitis’ mental condition remain confidential.

“I need to remind everyone present that this is a preliminary hearing, not a trial,” Sperline said. “Whatever decision is made in this hearing will result in a trial that will be public … in all its aspects.”

Loukaitis is accused of walking into his fifth-period algebra class and opening fire, killing teacher Leona Caires and students Manuel Vela, 15, and Arnold Fritz, 14. Thirteen-year-old Natalie Hintz was critically wounded.

He is charged with three counts of first-degree aggravated murder and one count of first-degree assault.

Grant County Prosecutor John Knodell wrapped up his case against Loukaitis on Thursday, offering more evidence that the quiet honor student was fascinated with the idea of killing people, had victims in mind, and planned where and when he would do it.

Knodell presented a notebook of poems Loukaitis had compiled over the school year, including a chilling entry titled “Murder.” Loukaitis wrote the poem and others like it for an English class, but his teacher told police she “thought that was a typical thing for an adolescent boy.”

Carol Smith also told police other students have had “dark sides” to their writings but eventually outgrew them. She wasn’t alarmed by Loukaitis’ work, which she said “reminded me of stuff by Stephen King.”

Police found an extensive collection of Stephen King books in Loukaitis’ room after the shooting.

Dano, however, is relying on the poems in part to show how Loukaitis underwent a “personality change” during the year before the shootings. His seventh- and eighth-grade English work didn’t focus on murder and death, Dano said.

On Thursday, the defense lawyer meticulously cross-examined Sgt. Dave Ruffin, going over testimony from several students who said Loukaitis “started getting weird” and “… real quiet, clammy, and then cussing at everybody.”

Other students said in the months before the shootings Loukaitis would come to school with uncombed hair and sit in the corner, staring out the window and laughing to himself.

One student told police: “If you looked into his face, there was clearly something bothering him.”

“One cannot avoid the consequences of one’s actions, but we’ve got to be mindful that we’re dealing with a child here,” Dano told the judge. “My responsibility is to represent a little boy … on whether he should be tried as a juvenile, which he certainly is, or tried as an adult, which he certainly is not.”

Seattle psychiatrist Julia Moore is scheduled to begin testifying today about her diagnosis of Loukaitis. Before the courtroom was closed to the public, Moore said the teenager suffers from a mental disorder.

Relatives of the victims were frustrated by the judge’s ruling to exclude them from Moore’s testimony, saying they wanted to hear all of the evidence about Loukaitis.

Darwin Hintz, Natalie’s uncle, asked the judge to keep the hearing open “so we too can understand Barry and not be left to speculation.” “We need to know … why our nephew is in the ground,” said a tearful Julio Vela.

Testimony in the hearing is expected to conclude early next week.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: ‘Murder’ It’s my first murder I’m at my point of no return I can’t let him live now He’d go to the cops for sure So I finish I look at the body on the floor Killing a bastard that deserves to die Ain’t nothing like it in the world But he sure did bleed a lot - Barry Loukaitis