Hearing set for August to discuss Loukaitis re-sentencing

EPHRATA — A judge set a hearing date for Aug. 12 to address issues surrounding the re-sentencing of Frontier Middle School shooter Barry Loukaitis.

Loukaitis, who is now 34, is set to be re-sentenced because of a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The court’s Miller versus Alabama decision in 2012 stated it was unconstitutional for juvenile homicide offenders to receive a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Citing the Eighth Amendment, which relates to the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishments, the court ruled that a sentence that dictates life in prison without the possibility for parole for juvenile homicide offenders is forbidden. In the Miller decision, the court states the Eight Amendment guarantees a person to have the right to not be subjected to “excessive sanctions.”

Because of the Miller decision, the Washington legislature passed the “Miller fix,” which states that juveniles who were under 16 when they were convicted of first-degree murder must have their sentence reduced to 25 years. The Loukaitis case falls under the scope of Washington’s Miller fix, as he received two consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole, plus an additional 205 years in prison, for entering his algebra classroom at Frontier Middle School in 1996 at age 14 and killing two of his classmates and algebra teacher.

Retired Kittitas County Superior Court Judge Michael Cooper, who sentenced Loukaitis in Grant County 20 years ago, is presiding over Loukaitis’ re-sentencing. During a status conference Friday Cooper said he read the statute the legislature passed in response to the Miller decision, but he hasn’t fully read the Miller decision itself.

Loukaitis’ attorney, Brett Hill, and Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor Kelly Fitzgerald, who is handling the re-sentencing because of a conflict of interest in the Grant County Prosecutor’s Office, will be submitting briefs to the court on some of the issues in the Loukaitis case as it relates to the Miller decision.

Hill and Fitzgerald plan to propose re-sentencing Loukaitis on each of the 22 counts he was previously found guilty of to avoid appeals. Fitzgerald said what is unique about the Loukaitis case is the fact that it has a “de facto life sentence.” She explained that after Loukaitis is re-sentenced on the two first-degree aggravated murder charges, which have a statutory fix in place, the standard range for the remaining counts, with added on weapons enhancements, produce sentences that are “well past any expected lifetime.”

“The purpose of the next hearing would be to get the court’s ruling on what the law, according to the court, will be and what exactly is the parameters for the actual sentencing,” Hill said.

Fitzgerald noted that Loukaitis’ defense counsel will be seeking an expert in the case to examine Loukaitis’ mental state and depending on what the expert’s opinion is, and how it is going to be used, the state will want to be heard and prepare an argument on the use of the expert.

“The issue we would want to address with the court is whether or not the court can, as it’s making its discretionary rulings, consider evidence of the defendant's mental state as it exists today and whether that’s relevant to what we’re talking about at re-sentencing for acts that occurred not only when he was a juvenile, but are now roughly 20 years ago,” Fitzgerald said.

Cooper set a hearing date for Aug. 12 to address the issues surrounding the case.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabaisnherald.com.