ODC photo

Kipland Kinkel

SALEM, Ore. (AP) -- A hearing on a new trial for convicted killer Kip Kinkel ended without a decision Wednesday after testimony that Kinkel was competent to enter a plea bargain that sent him to prison for more than 111 years.

Marion County Circuit Judge Joseph Guimond said he hoped to rule within 30 days after hearing two days of expert testimony about Kinkel's mental condition when he accepted the plea deal in 1999.

Kinkel was convicted of killing his parents and two students at Thurston High School in Springfield and of wounding 25 others students in 1998.

"I'm well aware of the importance of this case to Mr. Kinkel and Mr. Kinkel's family and to many citizens of Lane County," Guimond said.

The state attorney general's office called Dr. Eric Johnson, the director of the Oregon Forensic Institute, to rebut testimony by two defense experts on Tuesday that Kinkel was too mentally ill to enter into the plea bargain.

Johnson, a forensic psychologist, said there was no indication from any mental health expert in the case -- including the two defense experts -- that Kinkel was incompetent because of his mental illness.

"In my opinion, they have presented a thoughtful and elegant theory, but no evidence," Johnson said.

He said there was no evidence that Kinkel did not understand the proceedings or the advice of his attorneys.

On Tuesday, Dr. Orin Bolstad, a clinical psychologist, and Dr. William Sack, a psychiatrist, testified that Kinkel showed signs of paranoid schizophrenia serious enough to warrant an insanity defense instead of a plea bargain.

In other testimony Wednesday, veteran Eugene criminal attorney Kelly Beckley was called by the state to testify that Kinkel received good legal advice from both of his attorneys, Richard Mullen and Mark Sabitt.

Beckley said both were experienced trial lawyers who had dealt extensively with mentally ill clients.

Beckley also said none of the experts told either attorney that they were concerned about Kinkel's competence.

He said Lane County Circuit Judge Jack Mattison, the trial judge, took "extraordinary" steps to ensure that Kinkel understood all 58 counts of the plea bargain when it was read in court. Beckley noted the judge said in an affidavit that he would have stopped the proceeding if he had any doubt at all about Kinkel's competence.

Kinkel's sister and other family members and friends attended the two-day hearing but declined comment.