Kinkel's attorney says he plans to appeal the case.
(SALEM, Ore.) - Kip Kinkel's request for a new trial was shot down Wednesday by a Marion County judge. Kinkel was convicted for the shooting at Thurston High School in 1998 and is serving out a 111 year sentence.
The Springfield Thurston High shooting in 1998 left two students dead and 25 wounded. Kinkel shot the students after murdering his parents at home. He was 15 at the time of the offenses.
Kinkel's contention that he was too mentally ill to adequately execute his plea agreement, brought no relief from the judge in Salem.
The AP reports that Kinkel believes that his original defense attorneys and the trial judge should have ordered a mental competency evaluation before going ahead with the plea bargain.
But a lawyer for the attorney general's office argued during a two-day hearing in June that
But state officials say Kinkel clearly understood what was happening, and they stress that he was sufficiently intelligent to calculate that his best chance to reduce his sentence was the plea deal.
Larry Matasar who is Kinkel's attorney, says he plans to appeal the case.
Thurston High Killer's New Trial Denied
Salem-News.com