Loukaitis Hearing Postponed

Tue., Aug. 27, 1996

Staff And Wire Reports

A hearing to determine whether a 15-year-old boy should be tried as a juvenile or an adult in the shootings of two classmates and a teacher was postponed Monday.

Kittitas County Superior Court Judge Michael E. Cooper granted a defense motion to postpone the hearing until Sept. 23 for Barry Loukaitis.

Loukaitis, wearing a heather gray sweatshirt and faded jeans, kept his head down and his shoulders hunched during the hearing.

His attorney, Guillermo Romero, told Cooper the Moses Lake teenager had made a bad decision last Friday when he refused to agree to delay his trial a month.

This time, Romero said he was not ready to proceed with the hearing, which has been rescheduled several times. He said some of his expert witnesses were not yet available. Grant County Prosecutor John Knodell protested the delay, saying it was unfair to the victims’ families.

Cooper granted the delay, but emphasized the hearing would take place as scheduled.

Loukaitis is charged with three counts of aggravated first-degree murder in the Feb. 2 shootings at Frontier Junior High School in Moses Lake. Killed were algebra teacher Leona Caires, formerly of Coeur d’Alene, and students Manuel Vela Jr. and Arnie Fritz, both 14. He also faces one count of first-degree assault in the wounding of another student.

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Loukaitis Hearing Postponed

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