Kip Kinkel, who is serving more than 100 years in an Oregon prison for killing his parents and going on a shooting rampage at his high school in 1998, is seeking a new trial. The Associated Press says he contends that evidence of his insanity was not taken into account when he pleaded guilty.
A petition filed last month in Salem, Oreg., says Kinkel’s defense allowed him to plead guilty without seeking a court-ordered mental exam to determine his competency to stand trial. The petition says the trial judge failed to ensure that Kinkel was freely admitting his guilt.
Kinkel was 15 when he shot and killed his parents, teachers Bill and Faith Kinkel, on May 20, 1998, at their home. The next day, he drove to Thurston High School in Springfield. Armed with three guns, he sprayed a hallway and the crowded cafeteria with bullets, killing two students and wounding 25 others. Wounded students tackled him.