Man found guilty of grandfather’s murder

Ryan Snow, the bipolar man who slit his grandfather’s throat and left him to die while he sipped wine at a neighborhood restaurant, was found guilty of first-degree murder Thursday.

Spokane County Superior Court Judge Gregory D. Sypolt, who conducted a bench trial, said Snow’s public defender failed to prove that Snow, 24, couldn’t tell the difference between right and wrong, which is required in an insanity defense, when he killed James Bittick on July 29, 2006.

Sypolt concluded that Snow premeditated Bittick’s killing. The younger man scribbled a note saying he’d “had it” with his grandfather, bought a pocketknife two days before the murder, and asked his grandmother to make him a bowl of soup so he could approach him alone. Snow told police he’d decided to “euthanize” Bittick about three minutes before approaching his grandfather from behind and slitting his throat.

The public defender’s office had sought a “not guilty by reason of insanity” verdict that would have sent Snow to Eastern State Hospital instead of to prison to serve his sentence. The hospital has 95 forensic beds for people found not guilty by reason of insanity.

It was the second case in Spokane this year in which a mentally ill young man was found guilty of first-degree murder for killing a relative. Bryan Kim, 19, was sentenced to life in prison last month for killing his parents, Richard and Terri Kim, at their Mount Spokane home.

Sypolt took nearly an hour to give an oral review of evidence in the case, including testimony by forensic psychiatrists. Two experts testified for the prosecution and one for the defense.

One of the state’s experts, Dr. William Grant, of Eastern State Hospital, accused Snow of “gaming” his interviewers during a Sanity Commission review of his mental competency after Bittick was killed.

In an interview after the verdict, Grant said his role is to “sort through the data and advise the court as best I can” on whether defendants are mentally competent to stand trial.

“You don’t like to see two young lives taken away,” Grant said, referring to Snow and Kim. “On the other hand, parental murder is not a trivial incident.”

Deputy Prosecutor Dale Nagy called Sypolt’s verdict just. “There are places (in a mental hospital) for people who can’t tell the difference between right and wrong. But if someone knows, they need to be held accountable,” Nagy said.

Assistant Public Defender Kari Reardon could not immediately be reached for comment.

Aimee Morris, Bittick’s daughter and Snow’s aunt, was ambivalent about the first-degree murder verdict.

“It’s a no-win situation. I’m for my dad, but I’m not totally against my nephew. They loved each other, but they also argued,” Morris said, noting that Bittick also suffered from a bipolar disorder.

Snow will be sentenced at 3 p.m. March 28.