Oregon Teen Killer Drops Insanity Plea

Kip Kinkel, the diminutive, sad-eyed teenager who shot his parents to death before turning his gun on a roomful of his Springfield, Ore., high school classmates, dropped his insanity defense Friday and pleaded guilty to four counts of murder and 26 counts of attempted murder.

The unexpected plea, entered before a handful of former classmates and families of his shooting victims, averted a lengthy, high-profile criminal trial that was to have started Monday.

The 17-year-old former Thurston High School student, who told a psychiatrist that he believed he was an embarrassment to his parents because he wasn’t perfect, initially faced 58 felony counts in connection with the May 1998 attacks.

Under the plea agreement, he faces a minimum of 25 years in prison and could be sentenced to up to 585 years. Lane County Circuit Court Judge Jack Mattison said he would set a hearing next week to determine a sentencing date.

“I am pleased for the victims and for our community that Mr. Kinkel has chosen this route,” Lane County Dist. Atty. Doug Harcleroad said after a brief hearing in Mattison’s Eugene, Ore., courtroom. “Both parties worked very hard to reach this agreement.”

News of the plea was broadcast over the loudspeaker at Thurston High and greeted mainly with quiet sighs, witnesses said.

“This is really good news today. . . . Not having to go through a trial and have people’s lives thrown into continuous upheaval is a big relief here,” said Cindy Murdoch, a parent of two Thurston students who helped spearhead a national parent response group in the wake of the shootings.

Most parents did not expect a trial to answer the question of why Kinkel went on the shooting rampage that left two students dead and 26 others injured, some of them critically, Murdoch said.

Mona Walley, whose son was injured in the shootings, said prosecutors met with survivors and their families on the night before the plea was entered and told them it was likely Kinkel would get a life sentence.

“Anything less would be a real slap in the face for the victims. The judge is a lot smarter than that,” she said.

Walley said prosecutors also assured families that they would have a chance to make statements during the sentencing hearing, which could last from one to three weeks.

“We met, it was explained to us and we all agreed,” she said. “The victims are still going to get an opportunity to stand up and say what they want to Kip, to the judge, to the prosecutors. Obviously, the ultimate question they all want to ask is, why?”

“I don’t know that we’ll ever know,” she said. “I don’t know if he knows. There’s many kids that have the same angry feelings, or similar angry feelings, that don’t do what he did.”

Kinkel entered the courtroom with his head bowed and did not speak during the hearing. His sister, Kristin Kinkel, 21, attended the hearing with her aunt, Claudia Jurowski, but neither woman commented on the plea.

“My mind is clear and I am not sick,” the defendant said in his 14-page plea agreement.

In papers filed earlier in preparation for the coming trial, lawyers quoted from a defense psychiatrist’s report in which Kinkel referred to attempts to please his parents.

“I had to be 100%. No one is perfect, though,” psychiatrist Orin Bolstad quoted the youth as saying. “Lots of times, life sucked. With my parents, if I didn’t do the best, I was an embarrassment to my parents.”

Kinkel is said to have shot his father at home after being suspended from school for having a gun in his locker, then waited until his mother came home before saying, “I love you, Mom,” and shooting her. He stayed at home all night before driving to school the next morning and opening fire in the cafeteria.

“Got the .22 rifle . . . Dad sitting at the bar . . . So I [shot him],” Bolstad quoted in his report. The next day, he reportedly told the doctor, “I knew people would be in cafeteria [sic]. Just started shooting.”

Kinkel also talked with the psychiatrist about last April’s shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., telling him: “I flipped out. Started blaming myself.”

Under Oregon state law, Kinkel will be housed in a juvenile detention center until the age of 18. The judge will determine where he will serve the remainder of his sentence. He has been in the Lane County Jail since his 16th birthday.

The families of the two students killed at Thurston, Ben Walker, 16, and Mikael Nickolauson, 17, did not comment after the plea. But parent John Walley told reporters outside the courtroom: “This is the best resolution of the case. . . . I don’t need to understand what he was thinking. You can beat your head against that wall and you will go crazy because it was a senseless thing.”

The day after the shootings, Springfield community leaders formed an organization, Ribbon of Promise, that has become a national advocacy and resource group for ending school violence.

Murdoch’s parent volunteer group, which is part of the campaign, has received national PTA endorsement for its plan to help parents become more active and effective in combating such violence.

The group has drafted a checklist for parental action, including learning more about a child and his interests, establishing behavior rules, knowing what’s in a child’s room and spending an hour a week volunteering at school.