POCATELLO - Family members testifying Tuesday during the sentencing of convicted teen killer Brian Draper described him as a happy, harmless child before he met up with Torey Adamcik last summer.

Two expert witnesses, however, described Draper as a depressed and troubled young man who was obsessed with violence as early as the seventh grade.

Both Linda Hatzenbuehler, dean of Health Professions at Idaho State University, and Alan Brantley, a North Carolina a forensic psychologist brought in by Draper's attorneys, agreed the teen is a medium risk to re-offend.

Draper and Adamcik were arrested last September, just five days after they killed Cassie Jo Stoddart as she house-sat for relatives in northeast Bannock County. Stoddart was stabbed about 30 times, and her body was found two days later when her relatives returned home.

Draper was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder by a jury in April. Adamcik was convicted of the same charges by a jury in June. Both face up to two life sentences in prison.

Both defendants and Stoddart were 16-year-old juniors at Pocatello High School at the time of the murder. Adamcik and Draper have subsequently turned 17 years old.

Hatzenbuehler performed a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation of Draper, spending about nine hours with him over several weeks and studying other materials about the teen, including his school records and a prior psychiatric evaluation. She testified Tuesday that it was difficult to pin down an appropriate test to determine Draper's likeliness to re-offend.

The three main criteria Hatzenbuehler considered in determining Draper's future risk of violent behavior were internal factors to Draper himself, his history of violence and environmental conditions.

"He has no history of violence," Hatzenbuehler said. "He has no history of inflicting violence or of violence happening to him."

She said Draper is hypersensitive to criticism and ridicule, however. According to her testimony, Draper has also been fascinated with violence since junior high school.

"While Brian Draper appeared to be a happy-go-lucky teen, he was a deeply disturbed young man," Hatzenbuehler said.

She said the environmental conditions that led him to act against Stoddart may include his newly developing friendship with Adamcik.

Hatzenbuehler was one of the last to testify during a day that began with Sixth District Judge Peter D. McDermott reading from a presentencing investigation report on Draper, recounting the teen's description of Stoddart's murder.

In Draper's description to the investigator writing the report, he said he and Adamcik first tried to lure Stoddart and her boyfriend down to the basement as part of what he thought was a joke.

When the two would not come down, and after the boyfriend was picked up from the house by his parents, Adamcik and Draper then went upstairs to play their prank, according to Draper's account. He told the investigator that's when Adamcik went for Stoddart in the living room and stabbed her several times.

Draper told the investigator that he then stabbed Stoddart once in the leg after being threatened by Draper and then twice more in the upper body after being further threatened.

After McDermott asked Draper a few questions, the teen and his attorneys were seated, and Schulthies called his first witness, Brantley, who testified that he spent three hours with Draper on Monday and roughly 60 hours studying other materials related to Draper and the crime.

Brantley described Draper as a person with a low frustration tolerance who wanted the acceptance of his peers. He said the earliest he could tell that Draper began becoming obsessed with violence was in the seventh grade.

He said Draper suffers with deep depression, much of which stems from the taunting and teasing he has endured throughout his childhood because of a stuttering problem.

While many associate depression with lethargy and a desire to kill oneself, the expert witness said it can often manifest as irritability, anger and acting out against others.

During his cross-examination of Brantley, Bannock County Prosecutor Mark Hiedeman asked him if he read a story written by Draper in junior high school titled "Black River."

Brantley said he had read Draper's story, which chronicles a fictitious school shooting. Brantley said he and Draper spoke about school shootings in general, as well as Draper's obsession with the Columbine shootings.

Also testifying for the defense Tuesday were several of Draper's family members, including his mother, father, sister, maternal aunt and fraternal uncle.

Each described Draper as an affectionate, fun-loving practical joker who changed quickly during the summer of 2006 after he began spending more and more time with Adamcik.

"We are still in shock that he had anything to do with this," testified Kerry Draper, Brian's father.

He described his son as a character who also had brains, winning an Intel Science Award at just 11 years old, beating several hundred others his age or older. Kerry then said he and his wife began growing concerned last summer that Brian was spending too much time with Adamcik.

Kerry said that just days before the Stoddart murder, Brian was told he and Adamcik needed to spend at least half their time together at the Draper home.

The teen's mother, Pam, later testified she was becoming concerned that many of Brian's friends who were regulars in the Draper home were no longer coming around.

"We were concerned, but not alarmed," Kerry said. "Pam and I both thought there was a problem with the relationship he was developing with Torey."

By Jimmy Hancock

jhancock@journalnet.com