Times/News Correspondent

Seventeen-year-old Taelor Marks told his little sister he would drive her to school every day when she was old enough for kindergarten to keep her safe.

But Taelor never got that chance.

Taelor, his 17-year-old girlfriend, Josie Petersen, and his grandparents, Dick and Jane Larson, were brutally murdered in March 2001 at the Larson's home in Des Moines.

Their accused killer, Leemah Carneh, now 23, avoided trial again when King County Judge Michael S. Spearman issued a written ruling on Oct. 3, stating that he found Carneh incompetent to stand trial.

"The court concludes that based upon the delusions caused by his mental illness, the defendant cannot at this time rationally assist his attorneys in the presentation of his defense," Spearman wrote.

Carneh has been diagnosis with paranoid schizophrenia.

Spearman's ruling followed a two-day mental competency hearing last month.

"Before [my daughter] was born, Taelor had wanted a sibling his whole life," Lorraine Marks recalled. "He was so excited to be a big brother."

Lorraine described her family as "your typical, middle-class American family."

Every Sunday morning, she would take her son and daughter to her parents' home for a pancake breakfast.

After Taelor, Josie and the Larsons were murdered, Lorraine's daughter, then three-and-a-half, was confused when they stopped going there.

"My daughter didn't understand where they all went."

For a while, Lorraine had to place plywood over her daughter's bedroom window because the girl was afraid the same man who killed her brother would try to kill her.

"She has been in and out of therapy," said Lorraine, who along with her daughter is trying to deal with the loss of her loved ones.

And the court system is making this healing process difficult," Lorraine declared after the ruling.

"You would think after all this time that things would get better, but they're not. It still continues to be more devastating."

Lorraine, who believes the ruling was biased in favor of the defendant, said that the courts have shown no consideration for the victims or the victims' families.

"There are so many laws that it creates a tangled web," she said, noting the ruling will protect Carneh.

"There is not one shred of fairness in this case. It should be about the victims."

Lorraine chuckled as she paused to recall Josie and her son.

"Josie was very bubbly. She wanted to become a prosecuting attorney and had an unstoppable drive."

And she noted that in all of Taelor's pictures, he is always touching someone on the back or shoulders.

"He was such a loving kid," she said.

"It's devastating that these lives that were taken could've offered so much, and this guy who killed them offers nothing, yet he is being coddled by the system."

On Oct. 10, the four criminal counts of aggravated first-degree murder against Carneh were to be dismissed.

However, in his ruling, Spearman stated that Carneh's competency has been restored twice before and that if given substantial time with his medication, his competency could be restored as early as 2006.

Carneh will be re-evaluated every 180 days. If his mental condition improves, he could be found competent to stand trial and the four murder charges would be refiled.

Meanwhile, Lorraine, who has vigilantly attended most of the court hearings, is not going to give up.

She is working to change the state's mental competency law for criminal defendants.

"It is clear that the defendant needs to be held accountable," Lorraine stressed.

"I've said it over and over and over and I'll keep saying it until he is held accountable."