Barry Loukaitis Trial Postponed Again

Tue., March 11, 1997

From Staff And Wire Reports

The trial of a teenager accused of shooting four people at a Moses Lake junior high school has been postponed again and is now expected to take place in August, lawyers said.

A specific date has not been set for Barry Loukaitis, 15, who has pleaded innocent to the February 1996 killings of his math teacher and two classmates, and the wounding of a third classmate at Frontier Junior High School.

Loukaitis will be tried as an adult in Superior Court in King County. The trial was moved there because the prospect of finding an impartial Grant County jury was unlikely.

Public defender Guillermo Romero said he and lawyer Michael Frost need more time to adequately prepare for the trial, which had been scheduled for May 12.

Loukaitis’ lawyers have said the teen was not sane the day he brought a rifle to school and began firing. Killed were classmates Arnold Fritz and Manuel Vela, both 14, and teacher Leona Caires. Classmate Natalie Hintz was wounded.

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