Kenneth Lighty Federal Death Row

Kenneth Lighty federal death row

Kenneth Lighty was sentenced to death by the Federal Government for the kidnapping and murder of a drug dealer. According to court documents Kenneth Lighty would kidnap the victim, Eric Hayes, and would later shoot him multiple times in the head causing his death. Kenneth Lighty was convicted and sentenced to death and remains on Federal Death Row in 2021

Federal Death Row Inmate List

Kenneth Lighty 2021 Information

Register Number: 38205-037
Age: 38
Race: Black
Sex: Male
Located at: Terre Haute USP
Release Date: DEATH SENT

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United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein announced that a federal jury has recommended the death sentence for Kenneth Jamal Lighty, age 23, of Hillcrest Heights, Maryland, as the penalty for his conviction for the January 3, 2002 kidnapping and murder of 19 year old Eric Larry Hayes, II, the son of a District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department officer. On October 21, 2005, the same jury convicted Lighty and co-defendant James Everrette Flood III, age 28, of Washington, D.C. of kidnapping and murder. Lorenzo Anthony Wilson, age 22, of Hillcrest Heights, Maryland was previously convicted of conspiracy to kidnap on April 8, 2005 in a separate trial.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said, “These defendants abducted the victim in Washington, D.C. and brought him into Maryland, and Lighty viciously executed him. Each defendant will pay a heavy penalty for their roles in the crime. I commend the jurors who gave this case their full attention and dedication for several weeks. Their verdict reflects the judgment of the community that this random violence will not be tolerated.”

According to evidence established at trial, the three defendants abducted Mr. Hayes from the 3200 block of 8th Street, S.E., Washington, D.C., by forcing Mr. Hayes at gunpoint into their car. The defendants then transported Mr. Hayes to Prince George’s County, Maryland.

During the time of his abduction, Hayes was pistol whipped and shot several times in the face, head and limbs. His body was found off a residential street in Temple Hills, Maryland. Three weeks later, the evidence at trial showed that Lighty and Wilson participated in a January 30, 2002 drive by shooting which resulted in the death of Antoine Newbill, age 22, and injured two other persons. Lighty was arrested with the gun in the District of Columbia on January 31, 2002. He was on probation for a drug offense and on bond pending robbery charges in Prince George’s County, Maryland at the time of his involvement in these crimes.

Flood faces a mandatory sentence and Wilson faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. United States District Judge Peter J. Messitte scheduled sentencing of Wilson on December 19, 2005, Flood on January 11, 2006 and Lighty on February 3, 2006.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation Safe Streets Task Force and the Prince George’s County Police Department for their investigative work, and thanked the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia for their assistance. Mr. Rosenstein also commended Assistant U.S. Attorneys Deborah A. Johnston and Sandra Wilkinson, who are prosecuting the case.

https://www.thebaynet.com/articles/1105/23-year-old-sentenced-to-death-for-murder-of-police-officers-son.html

Westley Dodd Serial Killer Executed In Washington

Westley Allen Dodd

Westley Dodd was a serial killer from Washington State who was executed for the murders of three boys. In this article on My Crime Library we will take a closer look at Westley Dodd the sexual psychopath.

Westley Dodd Early Years

Westley Dodd was born in Toppenish Washington on July 3, 1961. According to Westley there was no abuse in the household however expressions of emotion were limited however in his diary Westley would claim his parents violently fought and his parents preferred his younger siblings to him.. Westley was described as a quiet student with little to no friends throughout his school years.

Westley Dodd Criminal History

Westley Dodd criminal history began when he was just thirteen years old when he would routinely expose himself to younger children. His parents were in denial of his behavior outside of the home. By the time he was fifteen years old he was molesting younger children in the neighborhood.

In 1981 Westley Dodd would be arrested after he attempted to abduct two young children who thankfully were able to escape and call the police. No charges would be filed. Dodd would enlist in the Navy and would continue molesting younger children.

Westley Dodd would be arrested again for paying a group of boys $50 to play strip poker with him in a hotel room. Dodd told police he had planned to molest the boys however no charges were filed. Dodd would be arrested again for molestation and would be discharged from the Navy however his sentence was suspended.

After leaving the Navy Westley Dodd would move into an apartment block which was predominately young families. Soon Dodd would begin to molest children in the building. Westley would be arrested again for attempting to abduct a young boy, the boy was able to escape. Even though it was clear Westley was a sexual predator he would again escape punishment and be sentenced to probation and counseling.

Westley Dodd Murders

In September 1989 Westley Dodd would lure two brothers, Cole and William Neer. in Vancouver Washington to a secluded area where the ten and eleven year old would be forced to undress, tied to a tree, molested and then stabbed repeatedly. The eleven year old would die at the scene and his ten year old brother would die on the way to the hospital. Following the murder Westley would keep newspaper articles and photos of the double murder.

A month later Westley Dodd would travel to Portland Oregon where he convinced four year old Lee Iseli to go with him. Dodd promised to bring him home however he brought the child back to Vancouver Washington. Once back at his residence Westley Dodd made the child strip and would molest him for the next two days. Westley took photographs of the abuse. Lee Iseli would be strangled and hung in the closet. Eventually Dodd would get rid of the body by stuffing it into a trash bag and dropped in some bushes near Vancouver Lake

Westley Dodd Arrest And Trial

Westley Dodd attempted to abduct a six year old boy from a public washroom. However the child began to cry and yell. Dodd grabbed the child and attempted to leave the building however after realizing that people were watching he would let the child go and leave the area. The child’s mother boyfriend would follow Dodd outside.

Westley Dodd car would break down close to the attempted abduction site and the boyfriend would hold Westley until police arrived.

Westley Dodd would plead guilty to all three murders and would be sentenced to death.

Westley Dodd Execution

Westley Dodd was executed by hanging on January 5, 1993. Dodd who asked to be hanged had refused to appeal his death sentences saying he could not be cured. Westley Dodd final meal consisted of salmon and fried potatoes

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8RvUSpjrvg

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In the fall of 1989, in Vancouver, Washington, a short, 29-year-old man named Westley Dodd raped and murdered three young boys. The boys were brothers Cole and William Neer, ages 10 and 11, and 4-year-old Lee Iseli.

A few weeks later, police arrested Westley at a movie theater after he tried and failed to abduct another boy. He quickly confessed to the three murders. The prosecution sought the death penalty, and Dodd pled guilty.

Death penalty cases take a long time due to all the appeals built into the process. These appeals are designed to make sure the state hasn’t made any mistakes in the death sentence. They check for things such as juror misconduct, incompetent defense lawyers, new evidence. Death penalty cases take years, sometimes decades.

Westley Allan Dodd did not want that. Instead, he wanted to be executed as quickly as possible.

In letters to the Supreme Court of Washington, Dodd urged the court to allow him to waive his right to appeal his death sentence. He believed he deserved to die for what he did, and wanted it done as soon as possible.

Westley Dodd was what’s known as a “volunteer” — someone who gives up their rights in order to hasten their own execution. The Death Penalty Information Center cites about 150 cases of “volunteers” in the United States

Dodd’s case sparked debate both among people who supported and opposed the death penalty. Some argued he had the right to choose whether the court would review the validity of his death sentence. Others argued that the law ensures that all defendants have due process whether they want it or not.

In the meantime, Westley Dodd continued to advocate for his own execution in interviews and in exchanges with his pen pals. He said he felt remorseful, and even wrote a self-defense booklet for kids to learn how to stay safe from men like him. The booklet was called “When You Meet A Stranger.”

The debate made its way to the Washington Supreme Court. In a 7-2 ruling, they decided that Dodd did, in fact, have the right to waive his remaining appeals. After just three years on death row (five years shorter than the national average at that time), the State of Washington hanged Westley Dodd.

In this story, Bethany Denton interviews Dodd’s former attorney Gilbert Levy and defense attorney Jeff Ellis, who was a young lawyer during the time of the Dodd trial. Bethany also talks to Becky Price, who was one of the recipients of Dodd’s pamphlet “When You Meet A Stranger.”

https://www.knkx.org/post/man-admitted-murder-and-volunteered-die-executing-him-wasnt-simple

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A 28-year-old man facing trial for the murders of three young boys and the attempted murder of a fourth changed his plea to guilty Monday without explanation.

Westley Allan Dodd, of Vancouver has been held without bail since his arrest Nov. 13, when he pleaded innocent to the charges.

Jury selection will begin as scheduled on June 25, but only in a consolidated penalty phase for all the cases. Dodd faces the death penalty or mandatory life in prison without parole.

Dodd did not indicate why he changed his plea. Clark County Prosecuting Attorney Arthur D. Curtis said Dodd went against the advice of his attorneys.

″We don’t feel it was a plea bargain in any respect,″ said Curtis. ″He plead guilty to what he was charged with.″

Westley Dodd softly and somberly described to Clark County Superior Court Judge Robert Harris the three boys’ deaths in graphic detail.

Westley Dodd was charged with three counts of first-degree aggravated murder in the deaths of 4-year-old Lee Joseph Iseli of Portland, Ore., and Vancouver brothers Cole Neer, 11, and William Neer, 10.

The Neer brothers’ bodies were found Sept. 4 in a Vancouver park where they had ridden their bicycles. Both had been stabbed.

The Iseli boy’s body was discovered near Vancouver Lake Nov. 1, three days after he disappeared from a Portland schoolyard.

″On Sept. 4, 1989, I went to David Douglas Park with the premeditated intent to cause the death of another human being,″ Dodd told Harris. ″I raped Cole Neer and then I killed him. Yes, I also murdered William Neer … to conceal my identity.″

On Oct. 29, Westley Dodd said, ″I did kidnap Lee Iseli from Portland Ore., took him to my apartment in Vancouver and raped him. … And on the morning of Oct. 30, I murdered Lee Iseli.″

Westley Dodd was arrested after he carried 6-year-old James Kirk II from a Camas, Wash., movie theater. Although the boy was let go outside the theater, his mother’s boyfriend tracked Dodd down and brought him back.

″I did attempt to abduct and murder James Kirk,″ Dodd told Harris.

Westley Dodd was charged with first-degree kidnapping and first-degree attempted murder in that case. The kidnapping charge was dropped Monday.

Robert Iseli, whose son was one of those killed, said he hoped Dodd would get the death penalty. ″You shoot a rabid dog … and anyone else who has no value to society,″ he said.

https://apnews.com/article/36d396834a1964aab8bac2c02e85b64b

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Heather Opel Teen Killer Murders Man

Heather Opel Teen Killer

Heather Opel was just thirteen years old when she helped to murder a man. According to court documents Heather Opel who was thirteen, her fourteen year old friend Marriam Oliver, seventeen year old Jeffrey Grote and fourteen year old Kyle Boston were paid by Barbara Opel to murder a man she had problems with.

The teenage killers would ambush the victim and would beat and stab him to death. Heather Opel and Marrian Oliver were sentenced to twenty two years in prison, Jeffrey Grote received a fifty year sentence and Kyle Boston was sentenced to eighteen years. Barbara Opel received a life sentence for arranging the murder.

Heather Opel 2023 Information

845115 OPEL, HEATHER L

Location – Mission Creek Corrections Center – Women

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Relatives of a man brutally murdered by five teens finally had their chance to confront one of the killers in court.

Heather Opel says she deserves a chance for the future. I ask why,” said Colleen Muller, the daughter of Jerry Heimann, who was beaten to death by the teens on April 13, 2001.

“Life in prison is what she deserves,” said Muller, who noted the 14-year-old girl willingly took part in the group execution after living under Heimann’s roof, eating his food and accepting his Christmas presents.

“They have ruined so many lives,” Muller said.

Prosecuting attorneys asked for a sentence of almost 25 years.

But Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Linda Krese, who last month found Opel guilty of first-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon, issued a sentence yesterday of 22 years, the mandated minimum, with no time off for good behavior.

With credit for time already served, Opel, one of the youngest defendants to ever face adult murder charges in the county, will be released in her mid-30s.

She is to serve time at juvenile facilities until she is 21, then transfer to the Purdy Correctional Center for Women to serve out the rest of her sentence.

In an agreement worked out with prosecutors, Opel waived her right to a jury trial to avoid a more serious charge of aggravated murder.

Yesterday, the girl, in gray-green prison garb and shackles with her hair stylishly gelled, turned to face the family and offer them an apology.

“I want to say I’m sorry to Mr. Heimann’s family,” said the thin, athletic teen, a former star on the basketball court at Evergreen Middle School. “I really hope you will accept my apology — and if you don’t, I understand why.”

Krese noted both the heinous nature of the crime and the dysfunctional upbringing of the teen in making her sentencing.

“Parents are supposed to be a moral compass,” she said. “It is clear that in Ms. Opel’s life, that moral compass was broken.”

Police say the plot to kill Heimann and steal his money was masterminded by the girl’s mother, Barbara Opel, at the time a live-in caretaker for Heimann’s 89-year-old mother, who has Alzheimer’s.

According to court documents, Opel recruited four boys and her daughter, then 13, promising them money and gifts.

Records say she yelled encouragement from a hiding place as they savagely beat 64-year-old Heimann to death with baseball bats and stabbed him with knives as he pleaded for help.

Records show the mother had her 7- and 11-year-old children help clean up the blood, then piled everyone in the car to dump the body in a remote spot on the Tulalip reservation.

Heimann’s invalid mother, who witnessed the crime, was found abandoned in the house, eating newspapers, when out-of-town relatives stopped by the house days later.

Barbara Opel will be tried for aggravated murder in February 2003. If convicted, she will become the first woman in the state of Washington to face the possibility of the death penalty.

Heather Opel’s attorney David Roberson described a long record of complaints about Barbara Opel that were reported to Child Protective Services in the girl’s infancy and childhood.

The state, he said, did nothing to prevent the constant physical and mental abuses of Heather and her siblings.

He described the convicted teenage killer as “a 13-year-old who never had a chance.”

Following the sentencing, Heather Opel’s attorneys filed an appeal of the decision to try her as an adult in court.

If the ruling is overturned, she will be incarcerated in juvenile prison, and could not be held past her 21st birthday.

Heimann’s family declined to talk to the media after yesterday’s sentencing.

Prosecutors said the relatives were too upset.

“They had hoped for as long a sentence as possible,” said Chris Dickinson.

He described the case as the “most unusual and mind-boggling case we have ever been involved in.”

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heather opel

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Heather Opel 2021

Heather is currently incarcerated at the Mission Creek Correctional Center

Heather Opel Release Date

Heather current release is 2022

Barry Loukaitis Teen Killer School Shooter

Barry Loukaitis Teen Killer

Barry Loukaitis was fifteen years old when he walked into his school and shot dead a teacher and two students. This teen killer would hold his class hostage for over an hour before he was tackled by a teacher. Barry Loukaitis would be convicted on all three of the murders and receive a prison sentence of two life sentences plus over two hundred years. On appeal the sentence was reduced to one hundred and eighty nine years.

Barry Loukaitis 2023 Information

Barry Loukaitis – Current Facility –
Clallam Bay Corrections Center

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On the day of the shooting, Barry Loukaitis was dressed as a Wild West-style gunslinger and was wearing a black duster. He was armed with a .30–30 caliber hunting rifle and two handguns (.357 caliber revolver and .25 caliber semiautomatic pistol) that belonged to his father, and was carrying approximately 78 rounds of ammunition.

Barry Loukaitis walked from his house to his school, where he had entered his algebra classroom during fifth period. He opened fire at students, killing two, Arnold Fritz and Manuel Vela, Jr., both fourteen. Another student, 13-year-old Natalie Hintz, sustained critical gunshot wounds to the right arm and abdomen, and was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

Barry Loukaitis then fatally shot his algebra teacher Leona Caires in the chest. As his classmates began to panic, Loukaitis reportedly said, “This sure beats the hell out of algebra, doesn’t it?”[1], which is often erroneously reported as a quote from the Stephen King novel Rage. Teacher and coach Jon Lane entered the classroom upon hearing the gunshots to find Loukaitis holding his classmates hostage. He planned to use one hostage so he could safely exit the school. Lane volunteered as the hostage, and Loukaitis kept him at gunpoint with his rifle. Lane then grabbed the weapon from Loukaitis and wrestled him to the ground, later assisting in the evacuation of students.

Lane kept Barry Loukaitis subdued until police arrived at the scene.

Barry Loukaitis More News

School shooter Barry Loukaitis, who killed three people and wounded a fourth at a Moses Lake middle school in 1996, was resentenced on Wednesday to 189 years in prison.

Loukaitis, 36, was resentenced as the result of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2012 that said people younger than 16 could not receive life sentences without parole. Loukaitis did not contest the new sentence sought by prosecutors and also waived his right to any future appeals.

Family members of the victims who died on Feb. 2, 1996, at Frontier Middle School told Grant County Superior Court Judge Michael Cooper about the pain Loukaitis’ rampage caused them. Several said at the hearing in Ephrata that having to speak about the shootings again more than 20 years later reopened old wounds.

Loukaitis, wearing handcuffs, directly addressed his victims and their family members for the first time, just before he was sentenced.

“I am sorry for what I did.” Loukaitis, who has graying hair and wore glasses, said. “What I did was weak and evil and senseless.”

Loukaitis said he did not have the tools at the age of 14 to deal with his anger and hatred toward others.

“I didn’t have the skills I needed to learn to be a man,” he said.

“It was never my intention to kill everyone in the classroom,” he added.

Gripping testimony also came from Natalie Hintz, who was 13 when Loukaitis shot her in the arm. She nearly died of her injuries.

“It is with disbelief and heavy heart that I am here today,” Hintz said of the resentencing process.

“I’ve re-lived the day I was shot over and over again,” Hintz said, adding that “my childhood ended” that day.

She endured years of physical therapy and still does not have the full use of her arm, Hintz said.

She recalled lying next to a dead classmate and watching Loukaitis shoot their teacher to death.

“Your sentence was to be final, like death is final,” Hintz said. “Today I am being victimized all over again.”

Loukaitis carried a hunting rifle and two handguns into his math class at Frontier Middle School. He shot and killed teacher Leona Caires, 49, and classmates Manuel Vela and Arnold Fritz, both 14. Hintz was wounded.

Teacher Jon Lane heard the gunshots and rushed to the classroom. He confronted and disarmed Loukaitis and then pinned him down until police arrived. Lane’s heroism likely prevented additional deaths.

But on Wednesday, Lane said he still had questions about the day.

“Why did you do it?” Lane asked of Loukaitis. “Why that day and that classroom?”

Manuel Vela Sr. told the judge he often wondered what his son would have been like as an adult.

“We’ll never know,” Vela said.

“He knew exactly what he was doing when he murdered our son,” Vela said of Loukaitis.

Alice Fritz, the mother of Arnold Fritz, remembered coming upon the body of her son in the hospital.

“I held his hand for a long time, sitting next to him,” she recalled. His hand was cold, she said.

Alice Fritz recalled that she went to visit Loukaitis in prison five years ago. She said she believed Loukaitis was genuinely contrite about the shootings.

But Victoria Kimble, a daughter of teacher Leona Caires, said she felt a deep hatred for Loukaitis.

She said her mother loved teaching math.

“She died with a piece of chalk in one hand and an eraser in the other,” Kimble said.

Cooper was the original judge in the case who came out of retirement to handle the new sentencing.

After the shootings, Loukaitis was tried as an adult in Seattle in an attempt to find an impartial jury. He claimed an insanity defense that was rejected by the jury and convicted in 1997.

In prison, Loukaitis has earned high school and college degrees and worked as a teacher’s aide.

“I appreciate Mr. Loukaitis’s words and his efforts in prison to better himself,” the judge said.

The judge also said he appreciated the strength of the people who testified on Wednesday, 21 years after the shootings.

“Perhaps it will bring some closure,” he said.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/moses-lake-school-shooter-barry-loukaitis-resentenced-to-189-years/

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Barry Loukaitis is currently incarcerated at the Clallam Bay Corrections Center

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Barry Loukaitis is serving a life sentence

William Lembcke Teen Killer Murders Entire Family

William Lembcke Teen Killer

William Lembcke was sixteen years old when he killed his entire family in December 2000.  According to court documents William Lembcke was caught videotaping his sister changing by his father and he grabbed a gun and murdered his parents and two siblings. 

After the murders William Lembcke would put the bodies of family into a truck and would throw them out later in a ditch.  After police began to investigate this teen killer was soon arrested and charged with the four murders.  William Lembcke was sentenced to life in prison without parole

William Lembcke 2023 Information

William Lembcke – Current Facility – Washington State Penitentiary

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A teenager convicted of killing four members of his family was sentenced yesterday to life in prison without parole. William Lembcke, 16, was convicted earlier yesterday of four counts of aggravated-first-degree murder in the Christmas-week shooting deaths of his parents, his 18-year-old sister and his 11-year-old brother. Jurors deliberated less than two hours. Stevens County Superior Court Judge Larry Kristianson called Lembcke “a monster” as he handed down the sentence.

The only penalties for aggravated murder are life in prison without parole or execution, but state law does not allow execution of people under 18. Kristianson also assessed Lembcke more than $15,500 in lawyer fees and court costs. The bodies of Robert and Diana Lembcke and their children, Jolene and Wesley, were found along a rural road days after the shooting at the family home in Addy, about 60 miles north of Spokane. Lembcke admitted sexually molesting his sister’s body, police testified. At the courthouse yesterday, family members — including the defendant’s only surviving sibling, 24-year-old Clinton Lembcke, who was not at home when the shootings occurred last Dec. 23 — broke down in tears when the verdict was read.

William Lembcke showed little emotion during most of the proceedings. But he sobbed openly during the sentencing process when an aunt, Pamela Ham, told him — and the court — that he’d had a loving mother and hard-working father and didn’t know what he’d given up. Relatives would not talk to reporters afterward. Deputy County Prosecutor David Bruneau called the verdict and sentence gratifying. He criticized defense attempts to portray Lembcke as mentally ill. “When you have a defendant whose back’s against the wall, it’s not unusual for them to resort to this sort of defense,” he told reporters. “You just hope the jury has the sense to see it for what it really is, and that is a bunch of rubbish.”

Defense lawyer Patty St. Clair said it is a tragedy to send a juvenile into the adult prison system. She said Lembcke wanted his family to know that he was sorry, and added that he has been emotionally distraught every time she has visited him in jail. The defense sought conviction on the lesser charge of second-degree murder, arguing that Lembcke suffered diminished mental capacity at the time of the murders. In closing arguments, Bruneau characterized the teen as a selfish, cold-blooded killer who spent the days after the attack partying with friends.

Defense lawyer Paul Wasson urged conviction on the lesser charge of second-degree murder, saying Lembcke was a troubled teen from a dysfunctional family. Wasson relied heavily on testimony from the key defense witness, psychiatrist Dr. Alan Unis, who attributed the teen’s mental state to a traumatic childhood. Bruneau said Lembcke’s actions showed premeditation — loading a semiautomatic rifle and lying in wait while his father showered and retrieving a different weapon to kill his mother, who used a wheelchair because of multiple sclerosis.

https://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Teenager-gets-life-in-prison-for-killing-family-1063985.php

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William Lembcke is a troubled child who was tormented by a dysfunctional home life, his attorney told jurors as trial began Monday for the teen-ager accused of killing four family members.

A quick succession of witnesses – including an older brother – testified after the jury heard opening statements in the trial that is expected to last a week.

Lembcke, 16, faces four counts of aggravated first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of his parents, older sister and 11-year-old brother Dec. 23.

If convicted, Lembcke will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. State law doesn’t allow people younger than 18 to be executed.

Court documents indicated the killings occurred after a confrontation over Lembcke’s secret videotaping of his 18-year-old sister in the shower.

Lembcke’s court-appointed lawyer, Patty St. Clair, said Lembcke committed the crimes, but asked the jury to reach a lesser verdict of second-degree murder because of his mental state.

St. Clair said an expert psychologist would testify Lembcke suffered from a “dissociated state with diminished mental capacity” at the time of the killings.

Prosecutors told the jury Lembcke carefully planned the Dec. 23 murders and spent the following days hiding the bodies, partying and playing Nintendo with friends.

Older brother Clint, 24, told the jury that William lied to him and other family members about the murders before his arrest. Clint was not living in the family’s home at the time of the killings.

Deputy Stevens County Prosecutor David Bruneau alleges Lembcke tried to cover up the crimes by painting over bloodstains and claiming the victims were visiting a sick relative in California.

Defense attorneys tried unsuccessfully to have Lembcke’s confession and most of the evidence against him thrown out on grounds that he was mentally incompetent when he consented to searches and admitted guilt.

Prosecutors contend Lembcke had been disciplined the night before the slayings for secretly videotaping sister, Jolene, while she undressed and showered.

Lembcke told authorities he shot his sister, 11-year-old brother Wesley and parents Robert and Diana because his father yelled at him for not helping gather firewood.

Although Lembcke apparently didn’t tell detectives about the dispute over the videotape, court documents say he admitted having sex with his sister after killing her.

Her body was nude from the waist down when sheriff’s deputies found it in a roadside ditch with the other victims, following directions William Lembcke reportedly gave after confessing

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William Lembcke

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