Jury Selection Begins In Loukaitis Trial

Jury selection began Monday in the trial of Barry Loukaitis, a teen who is pleading innocent by reason of insanity to the fatal 1996 shootings of two classmates and a teacher in his hometown of Moses Lake.

Loukaitis appeared unresponsive in the courtroom. A slender 16, his white shirt and khakis looked too big for him. His eyes seemed focused on a point about three feet in front of him.

His father sat alone in the back of the courtroom taking notes. Asked if he was there to support his son, Terry Loukaitis said, “Of course.”

Barry Loukaitis, who was 14 when he dressed in black and took a deer rifle and two handguns to his Frontier Junior High math class, is being tried as an adult and could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted of three counts of aggravated first-degree murder. He also is charged with attempted first-degree murder, second-degree assault and 16 counts of kidnapping in the Feb. 2, 1996, attack.

Killed were classmates Arnold Fritz and Manuel Vela, both 14, and algebra teacher Leona Caires. Classmate Natalie Hintz is recovering from her wounds.

The trial is expected to take at least four weeks. It was moved to King County because it was considered unlikely that an impartial jury could be found in rural Grant County, about 85 miles west of Spokane.

Lawyers expect a jury will be seated by week’s end. Opening statements have been scheduled for next Monday, said defense lawyer Michael Frost of Seattle.

Sixteen people will be chosen from the pool of 108 prospective jurors to serve on the 12-member panel and provide four alternates.

The defense will argue that Loukaitis was not sane at the time of the shootings but can be successfully treated in a mental institution.

Frost says he believes psychiatrists on both sides agree Loukaitis suffered from mental illness when the shootings occurred.

“The question is whether that rises to the level of legal insanity,” he said.

Grant County Prosecutor John Knodell contends the former straight-A student was acting out a Stephen King novel, “Rage,” in which a character feigns insanity after shooting two teachers and taking over a classroom. A copy of the book, published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, was found in Loukaitis’ bedroom.