Jury finds Florence teen guilty of murder.

Byline: Bill Bishop The Register-Guard

A jury on Thursday convicted a Florence teenager of murder in a stabbing last summer, rejecting his legal defense of insanity.

The eight-woman, four-man jury deliberated four hours before unanimously convicting Truett John Watts, 18, in the death of 44-year-old Randy Shane Wilkins, a drifter who last lived in Newport and had become friends with Watts' family.

Sentencing is scheduled for Monday. Under Oregon law, Watts, 18, will be sentenced to life in prison with a minimum 25-year term under Measure 11.

Watts never denied the killing and his defense lawyer argued for a guilty-but-insane verdict, or a conviction on lower charges. The trial focused on whether Watts' mental state was caused by paranoid schizophrenia or by chronic long-term methamphetamine use.

The judge told jurors that they could find Watts guilty-but-insane if they decided he suffered paranoid schizophrenia. However, Oregon law does not afford that verdict to a defendant whose psychosis is caused by drug abuse. Under the law, if jurors found both the paranoid schizophrenia and drug use contributed to the crime, then the defendant may not be found guilty-but-insane, according to legal instructions given to the jury.

"I think it was clearly the right result," Lane County District Attorney Alex Gardner said. "It underscores the risk that meth- amphetamine represents."

The fact Watts began using the drug at age 14 and was a chronic user is "a discouraging statement about our inability to control meth. It's an increasingly large problem," Gardner said.

Mental health experts gave conflicting and complex interpretations of Watts' behavior leading up to the crime.

Jury deliberations are private, so it can't be determined what factors swayed their opinion.

However, psychologist Eric Johnson testified Wednesday that Watts told him about a remarkably powerful dose of methamphetamine he took a month before the murder that seemed to trigger his mental meltdown. Other evidence showed Watts became incoherent, depressed and delusional in the weeks before the killing.

Evidence indicated Watts tried to quit meth and his friends tried to get him to quit. However, Watts told Johnson he smoked meth with the victim about two days before the killing.

In closing arguments Wednesday, defense lawyer John Kolego noted schizophrenia runs in Watts' family. He also said Watts' depression contradicted the typically hyper behavior expected of methamphetamine addicts.

Deputy District Attorney Mike Pugh conceded that evidence showed Watts was delusional.

"He put himself in that position by his extensive use of methamphetamine," Pugh argued. "He doesn't get the benefit, under the law, of legal insanity."

Had Watts been found guilty-but-insane, he would have been hospitalized for treatment. With Thursday's verdict, Watts probably will serve his sentence in a regular prison.