Loukaitis Called Delusionial ‘He Did Not Have A Plan. The Plan Had Him,’ Defense Psychiatrist Says

The final witness in Barry Loukaitis’ trial, a psychiatrist testifying for the defense, dismissed contentions that the boy had a plan when he armed himself, marched to school and killed three people in his Moses Lake math class.

“He did not have a plan,” Dr. Julia Moore told the court. “The plan had him. He was in a delusional system.”

Moore was called by defense attorneys to counter prosecution experts, who diagnosed Loukaitis as having a depressive disorder but said they found no evidence of psychosis or delusions.

Moore stood by her diagnosis of mixed bipolar disorder to a psychotic degree, which would indicate he was out of touch with reality.

“He acted out a delusion in a delusional trance,” she said.

Loukaitis, then 14, killed three people - Manuel Vela and Arnold Fritz, both 14, and algebra teacher Leona Caires - in the Feb. 2, 1996, attack at Frontier Junior High, Student Natalie Hintz, then 13, survived but still has not fully recovered from her wounds.

Loukaitis, 16, is being tried as an adult. He is pleading innocent by reason of insanity to three counts of aggravated first-degree murder, one count each of attempted murder and second-degree assault and 16 counts of kidnapping.

He could face life imprisonment if convicted.

Moore was the final witness called in the trial, which began Aug. 25. Jurors received instructions from the judge Wednesday afternoon, with closing arguments scheduled for this morning. Jury deliberations will be limited to regular courtroom hours. If deliberations extend past Friday, the jury will not meet over the weekend.

Moore was questioned about her belief that Loukaitis suffered from a delusion concerning Vela. Prosecution experts said the defendant had strong opinions about Vela and believed he had gang ties, but that his views did not constitute a delusion - a psychiatric term for an erroneous belief that is held despite proof that it is wrong.

In his tape-recorded confession played earlier for the court, Loukaitis said Vela was the only “positive deliberate” victim, that “reflex took over” in the shootings of the three other people.

To Loukaitis, Vela had become a symbol “of everything he despised about evil,” Moore said. When challenged about that view, she said, he became increasingly irritable and restated the contention “again and again and again,” rather than elaborating or explaining as one would about an opinion or belief.

Loukaitis has said he decided to kill Vela on Jan. 26, 1996, because the boy had “called him a faggot in science class,” noted Deputy King County Prosecutor Donna Wise, who is assisting Grant County Prosecutor John Knodell in the case.

“You can’t just rely on words,” Moore said. Mere words do not provide the whole story, she said, citing her additional observations of Loukaitis’ manner and mood during their more than a dozen interviews over the past 18 months.

Moore also said she considered Loukaitis’ outfit the day of the shootings to be part of his delusion.

“He dressed in a bizarre costume, a la Clint Eastwood,” she said, referring to his all-black Western gear. While Loukaitis had some of the garments for months, “He said he never wore that outfit together till that day,” Moore said.

Expert witnesses for the prosecution suggested the black cowboy “duster” or trench coat that Loukaitis bought two days before the shooting was largely functional - it covered the .30-30 deer rifle he used in the killings.

Moore also said Loukaitis was operating under the delusion that there was “a computer program that controlled him.”

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