Expert witnesses testify in Moses Lake teen's declination hearing

EPHRATA - The declination hearing for the 15-year-old Moses Lake boy accused of shooting his parents wrapped up Thursday, after two full days of testimony from various witnesses.

Visiting Douglas County Superior Court Judge John Hotchkiss said he anticipates having a decision on whether the boy will be tried as an adult or not out by next week.

The boy is currently charged with two counts of attempted murder after he allegedly took a .22 caliber pistol out of a locked gun case, loaded it and waited around 90 minutes before deciding to shoot his parents in March.

The boy's parents survived the incident and were transported to an out-of-area hospital to recover from their injuries. The boy reportedly told police his parents grounded him from video games and other electronic devices.

The court heard testimony from Moses Lake Police Department officers, Grant County Juvenile Detention Center personnel, a Frontier Middle School administrator and the boy's parents, Jon and Elizabeth Brooks, during the first day of the hearing on Wednesday.

Prosecutors called Dr. Nathan Henry, a forensic psychologist, to the stand Thursday. Spokane psychologist Dr. Mark Mays and Seattle psychiatrist Dr. Terry Lee testified on behalf of the defense.

All three expert witnesses discussed their respective mental health evaluations of the boy, which outlined their opinions on his level of sophistication and maturity, his future risk to society and his amenability to treatment.

The three experts each mentioned that the boy wasn't as sophisticated or mature as others his age and that they would recommend some form of treatment.

Each of them however, had different diagnoses for the boy.

Lee said the boy had oppositional-defiant disorder, unspecified depressive disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Lee said symptoms of ADHD could be seen in the boy's school records as early as kindergarten.

Mays also said he diagnosed the boy with unspecified depressive disorder, although he couldn't speak to whether or not he had ADHD.

Henry said the boy had signs of depression, but not enough to diagnose him with a depression disorder.

"It means that he's exhibiting and reporting symptoms of depressed moods but not necessarily to the full extent of a more specific major depressive episode," he said.

Both of the defense's experts also told the court that it would not be in the boy's best interest to be incarcerated with adults after attending a juvenile rehabilitation administration facility.

Lee said he believed the boy would lose any benefits of treatment he would have received while at a JRA facility if he were to be transferred to an adult facility after he turned 18 or 21. In addition, the boy would be exposed to more sophisticated and more serious criminals at an adult correctional facility, he said.

And Mays said the boy would likely end up adopting the behavior of those inmates.

"I think that his level of sophistication, his level of impulsiveness would make him more responsive to the environment in which he finds himself in," said Mays. "If he's in a situation in which a callous disregard for the law for example were the norm, then I think he would be more likely to take that on."

Defense attorney Lyliane Couture said it is in the best interest of both the boy and society if the case remains in the juvenile justice system.

"Every single expert today has testified that [the defendant] will be better off in a JRA institution," she said in closing statements. In addition, each of the experts testified that the boy lacked maturity and sophistication and that his diagnoses could be treated.

"And what's in the best interest of society and the juvenile is that society will be much better served by releasing a rehabilitated juvenile over releasing an offender that's likely to re-offend," said Couture.

Deputy prosecutor Kevin McCrae agreed that society would be better off if the boy successfully rehabilitates and re-enters society as a productive citizen.

"The question is, is that going to happen, that's really the issue," he said. The only way to ensure society is protected, is to try the boy as an adult, McCrae said.

"The protection of the community requires declination, and that's what we request from this court," he said.