'A monster of a process': 1992 Lindhurst shooter appeals death row sentence due to disability

Nov. 8—Over 30 years after the Lindhurst High School school shooting, 52-year-old death row inmate Eric Houston is filing another appeal, claiming that a developmental disability should overturn his death sentence to life without the possibility of parole.

On May 1, 1992, Houston, then 20, entered his former high school armed with a rifle and shotgun. He killed three students and one teacher, injured nine students and held over 80 students hostage during an 8-hour standoff.

The Yuba County District Attorney's Office prosecuted Houston's case, eventually culminating in a jury trial in Napa County due to a change in venue. Houston was found guilty of first degree murder, assault with a firearm and false imprisonment along with various special circumstances and enhancements. The second phase of trial also determined that he was legally sane at the time of the shooting.

Houston was sentenced to death by a jury on Sept. 20, 1993, and appealed his case soon after, claiming that his sentence should be overturned because of evidence discrepancies and unclear proof of intentions. The California Supreme Court upheld his convictions and sentence in 2012.

In 2016, Houston filed a petition for Habeas Corpus in Napa County after previously filing through federal court. According to the Yuba County District Attorney's Office, in July this year, all claims raised in the petition were denied except one: Houston's alleged developmental disability should bar him from death row.

Houston claims that he has a case for relief from his death sentence due to allegedly having an intellectual disability, borderline intellectual functioning and severe mental impairment. According to court documents, Houston claims to have experienced symptoms of psychosis at the time of the crime. Under the Supreme Court ruling Atkins v. Virgina, executing a criminal found to be mentally disabled constitutes cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the Eighth Amendment.

Should the court find that Houston is developmentally disabled, he would be barred from execution under the current law, and his sentence would be reverted to life without the possibility of parole, the DA's office said.

"(Houston) has presented what's called a prima facie case, which simply means you've presented facts that, if true, would entitle you to relief. That doesn't mean those facts are true, but that's what we have to litigate," Yuba County District Attorney Clint Curry said.

The Yuba County District Attorney's Office is responsible for litigating Houston's claims in Napa County Superior Court, and will have to determine whether his condition played a role in his crimes.

"At this point, we're going to litigate whether he was or is developmentally disabled. I say 'was' and 'is,' and that's not completely a mistake because developmental disability is something that has to start before you're 18. It's not 'I wasn't and now I am.' It's a then-and-now question, factually, which is always difficult when you're talking about something that happened 30 years ago," Curry said.

During Houston's sanity trial, the defense argued that he had a developmental disorder and psychotic schizophreniform disorder among others, which made him detached and contributed to poor impulse control. Through an expert opinion, the defense also argued that while Houston was aware of the nature and quality of his actions during the shooting, he was in a "dissociated, depersonalized state and was not capable of distinguishing right from wrong."

However, the prosecution presented a separate expert opinion disagreeing with Houston's previous diagnosis and attributing his symptoms to a mood disorder like psychotic depression. The prosecution argued that even if Houston was psychotic, it would not alter his ability to distinguish right from wrong. With this evidence, Houston's judgment and sanity were affirmed by the California Supreme Court.

"There's already a really detailed record of sanity and also the punishment end where they would have considered — even if he wasn't insane — what factors did mental health or developmental disabilities play," Curry said.

With this new attempt at appeal, the DA's office will have to hire an expert on developmental disabilities to review Houston's claims.

"It's an adversarial system. (Houston) has found an expert that says he's developmentally disabled. Almost always, you can find an expert who, if you pay enough money, will say whatever you want. We don't necessarily take it at face value. We find an expert who's a straight-shooter and have them go through everything," Curry said. "We'll probably fight over what questions we can ask him, if he can be interviewed now, what developmental disability tests are approved by the courts. Because of all that, I'm estimating it will take anywhere between a year and a half to three years to litigate."

The DA's office does not currently have sufficient staff to handle a case of this size. Even if a new attorney position was authorized to handle this case, it's unlikely the Yuba County District Attorney's Office would be able to recruit an attorney with the specialized expertise needed to tackle this kind of advanced litigation.

Because of this, the DA's office is asking the Yuba County Board of Supervisors to help fund a contract with a deputy district attorney from San Joaquin County to solely work on this case. The San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office would bill the Yuba County District Attorney's Office for its services, and Yuba County would file with the state for reimbursement, Curry said.

"It's a monster of a process. Gearing up to become an expert on developmental disability, what did the shrink consider, what did the tests consider, it's just a real niche as far as the expertise are concerned. Being a rural county, it's hard to dedicate that amount of resources. ... This is not something where you could hire a new attorney and tell them to figure it out," Curry said.

Given the impact the Lindhurst High School shooting has had on the community, Curry encourages those affected to reach out to Yuba County Victim Services, which can be reached at 530-741-6275.