Today: Alvaro Castillo found guilty for killing his father and for shooting at students at Orange High School
Tuesday: Durham Performing Arts Center’s inaugural year surpasses expectations
Monday: N.C. Central University celebrates its centennial
BY BETH VELIQUETTE
bvelliqeutte@heraldsun.com; 419-6632
HILLSBOROUGH -- After days of watching videotapes that Alvaro Castillo made that revealed a hidden rage and an obsession with school shootings, an Orange County jury returned guilty verdicts for first-degree murder for killing his father and for shooting at students at Orange High School.
There was no argument during the trial that Alvaro Castillo shot and killed his father at their home in northeastern Orange County in 2006 or that he drove to Orange High School and began firing at students who were eating lunch there.
He not only admitted the offenses, but he also made hours and hours of videotapes of himself discussing his plans and laying out his weapons before the shootings, and also made another tape after he shot his father that showed his father's body on the couch.
The issue for the jurors was whether Castillo knew the difference between right and wrong on that day in August. His attorney, Orange-Chatham Public Defender James Williams, attempted to prove that Castillo was not guilty by reason of insanity, meaning he didn't know that what he was doing was wrong.
Orange-Chatham District Attorney James Woodall used the videotapes and other evidence to show that Castillo prepared carefully for the crimes he intended to commit that day and that he was sorry for what he did.
Woodall argued that Castillo repeatedly said he was sorry and that he knew what he had done was wrong after he shot and killed his father. He also argued that Castillo wanted to go down in history as a mass murderer and school shooter.
But Williams used Castillo's words in the videotapes to show that Castillo thought he was on a mission from God and that by killing his father and possibly killing students at Orange High, he was sacrificing lives and sending them to heaven to spare them the pain of living in an evil world.
In the end, it appeared that Castillo's own words -- that he was sorry -- convinced the jury that he did know the difference between right and wrong and was therefore guilty.
A judge sentenced him to life in prison plus a minimum of four years and two months in prison.
The trial was broadcast live on TruTV, formerly CourtTV.
