BY BETH VELLIQUETTE
bvelliquette@heraldsun.com; 918-1042
HILLSBOROUGH -- Alvaro Castillo was sentenced to life plus a minimum of four years and two months in prison Friday after a jury found him guilty of shooting and killing his father and of assault and weapons charges for shooting at students at Orange High School in 2006.
In doing so, the jury rejected the defense's claims that Castillo was insane and did not know right from wrong when he committed the crimes. His defense team had presented expert witnesses who testified Castillo believed he was on a mission from God when he committed the crimes.
Castillo believed that he was sacrificing lives and sending people to heaven and in doing so, sparing them from the pain of living in an evil world, according to the defense experts.
The prosecution, however, contended that Castillo knew what he was doing was wrong. To support that theory, Orange-Chatham District Attorney Jim Woodall pointed to the many times Castillo apologized for what he had done or was about to do.
Woodall also contended that Castillo killed his father because his father was abusive, and he shot at the students at Orange High because he wanted to go down in the annals of history as a mass murderer and school shooter.
The jury found Castillo guilty of both first-degree murder by premeditation and deliberation and felony murder, meaning he committed the murder in association with other felonies, the felonies being possession of weapons of mass destruction.
Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour gave Castillo the only sentence allowed by law in North Carolina -- life in prison.
He also sentenced him to two consecutive sentences of 25 to 39 months in prison, to run at the expiration of the life sentence, for assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill for shooting at and wounding the students at the high school.
Before sentencing, Castillo apologized for what he had done, saying he now realized what a horrible thing he had done.
"I know that as a result of my actions I shocked and hurt a lot of people," he said. "That wasn't my intention. I simply wanted to help. Now I realize what I did was wrong."
Following the sentencing, Orange-Chatham Public Defender James Williams said he wasn't surprised at the jury's verdict because the insanity defense is always a difficult one, he said.
He also, without pointing at anyone in particular, regretted that Castillo didn't get the help he needed before he killed his father.
But even as Castillo was telling his therapists he was feeling better, his family knew that he had purchased firearms, his mother took him on a trip to Columbine and he was making videotapes in his bedroom of his plans.
A series of missed phone calls between treatment providers may also have contributed to him not receiving the appropriate treatment.
Woodall said after the trial that he wanted to people to remember that Rafael Castillo had lost his life.
"A lot of bad things were said about him in this trial, but the bottom line is he was brutally murdered," Woodall said.
Although the jury was given the case late Thursday, Friday was the first day the jurors really had a chance to begin digging into the case. Just three hours into their deliberations, they asked the judge if they could re-watch two videos and have written copies of the reports written by doctors who examined him.
They watched a videotape titled, "The End," which was filmed by Castillo shortly after he shot and killed his father at their home on Lipps Lane in northeastern Orange County.
The tape begins with Castillo, who is standing in his bedroom speaking directly into the camera, saying, "I did it. I killed my father. I sacrificed him. He's with the Lord now. He's with Tony."
Tony was Rafael Castillo's son from a previous marriage who died in childhood.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I did," Castillo said to the camera.
"Look at me. I just killed him. I'm not even crying," Castillo continued.
Castillo went on to say that he didn't feel any remorse. "I feel fine. He's dead. I must have shot him four times, maybe five times. He's dead. He's dead. Nothing can bring him back."
Castillo then walked through his house with the camera and showed his father's body on the family room couch. He had covered it with a sheet, so only his father's legs were visible in the video.
Then Castillo began saying, "I have to die,"
"You have to understand. Now I have to die. Now I must die," Castillo said as he began picking up the equipment he was going to take to Orange High School to begin his plan to kill students.
"Once again I'm sorry for what I did," Castillo said. "I'm sorry for the pain I'm going to cause, but I'm not right in the head."
When the jury asked to see the videos and asked for copies of the reports that psychologist and psychiatrists had written about Castillo, it appeared the jury might take more than a day to reach a verdict.
But the jurors surprised many in the courtroom about 4:25 p.m. Friday, when one of them knocked on the jury door and handed the bailiff a note saying they had reached a verdict.
The jurors left the courtroom just before sentencing and were not available for comment.
