Court upholds Kip Kinkel sentence (Springfield, Or. parental and school killings)

The Register Guard ^ | 17 Oct 02 | by Bill Bishop

[Glutton]

judge lawfully imposed the 112-year prison sentence given Kip Kinkel for the 1998 murders of his parents and two students and the shooting rampage at Thurston High School that left 25 youths wounded and shocked the nation, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.

The court said the sentence was neither unconstitutionally cruel nor a misapplication of the stated constitutional purpose of criminal sentences: to protect society and to provide personal responsibility, accountability and reformation.

Jesse Barton, chief deputy state public defender, argued in the appeal that the trial judge misread Oregon's constitutional principles for criminal sentencing and wrongly gave more consideration to the ``protection of society'' principle than to ``reformation'' of convicted criminals.

However, the three-judge appeals panel ruled that each case must be considered individually and that trial judges must weigh the particular significance of each sentencing principle when deciding a sentence.

``Both the circumstances of defendant's crimes and the apparently incurable nature of his mental illness amply demonstrate that protection of society from this defendant is of vital concern,'' the court said.

``Moreover, the secretive nature of defendant's preparation for the crimes, his apparently random selection of most of his victims, and the irrational nature of paranoid schizophrenia all make it difficult, if not impossible, to predict whether defendant ever can be safely returned to society. The trial court did not err in determining that protection of society was a highly significant concern when sentencing this defendant," the court said.

Barton said he will appeal Wednesday's ruling to the Oregon Supreme Court. Kinkel - who is now 20 years old and in the Secure Intensive Treatment Program at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn where he has been since his conviction in November 1999 - agrees with the appeal, Barton said.

It's uncertain whether the Supreme Court will accept the case. Barton said the high court has not yet reviewed any cases having to do with the 1996 voter-approved state constitutional amendment that made protection of society an explicit purpose of criminal sentencing.

Kinkel dropped a defense of insanity when he pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated murder for killing his parents, William Kinkel, 59, and Faith Kinkel, 57, and for killing Thurston High School students Mikael Nickolauson, 17, and Ben Walker, 16.

The plea deal gave Kinkel a 25-year prison term and left Lane County Circuit Judge Jack Mattison to decide a sentence for the remaining 26 attempted murder charges from the Thurston shootings.

Mattison, who is now retired, cited the 1996 amendment as "a clear statement that the protection of society in general was to be of more importance than the possible reformation or rehabilitation of any individual defendant." Mattison added nearly 87 years to Kinkel's 25-year term.

In the appeal, Barton argued that the 1996 amendment requires that societal protection be given equal consideration along with reformation, responsibility and accountability.

The appeals court acknowledged that experts testified that Kinkel may someday be successfully treated for the schizophrenia and depression that drove his criminal conduct.

However, the court said there is no guarantee that treatment will be effective.

The court also recited a litany of evidence about Kinkel's danger to society, including: his fascination with weapons and explosives; his fantasies about killing large numbers of people indiscriminately; his reports of hearing voices since the age of 12, including separate voices that advocated violence and suicide; his delusions about an invasion by the Chinese and about the Walt Disney Company taking over the country; and his attempts to avoid taking medications in the brief time he was under mental health treatment.

"In sheer magnitude, those crimes are among the most horrific in Oregon's history. Given the circumstances of the crimes, it cannot be surprising that the sentencing court would conclude that protection of society from this defendant was of utmost importance," the court said.

In its ruling, the appeals court also quoted extensively from three victims who spoke at Kinkel's sentencing about their fear should he ever be released.

The appeals court's unanimous support for the sentence was no surprise, said Chief Deputy Lane County District Attorney Kent Mortimore, who prosecuted Kinkel.

"The opinion is a very common-sense approach to sentencing under Oregon law," Mortimore said. "They are absolutely positive Judge Mattison interpreted the law and applied the law correctly. Kip Kinkel needs to be in prison the rest of his life. This makes it appear that's going to happen."

David Alldredge, whose daughter Jennifer was wounded by Kinkel, told The Associated Press that the ruling makes him hopeful he will never have to worry about Kinkel being freed.

"You can't live your life in fear," Alldredge said. "Hopefully, there won't be any hitches in the system and things stay as they are and Kip can go on and continue to live with the fact of what he did to other people and himself."

Background:

Thurston shootings background, story archive

[Glutton]

"A" is the one word accidently clipped from the beginning of this article.