Defense claims parents covered up diagnosis of son

      VISTA, Calif. -- Under pressure from the parents of Joshua Jenkins, Clark County School District administrators overruled educational and psychiatric experts and deleted the diagnosis that the boy was "severely emotionally disturbed," a defense attorney said Tuesday.
      "This boy was in an environment with his parents where it was not OK to be mentally ill," said defense attorney William LaFond during the sanity phase of Jenkins' trial.
      Jenkins, 16, pleaded guilty in April to five counts of first-degree murder in the slayings of his parents, George and Alene Jenkins of Las Vegas, his grandparents, William and Evelyn Grossman of Vista, and his sister, Megan, 10. The jury will decide whether he was insane at the time of the killings, which took place Feb. 3, 1996, during a Jenkins family visit to the Grossmans.
      LaFond said "the circumstantial evidence of the strong struggle between the parents and the school district" over whether Jenkins should be labeled learning disabled or severely emotionally disturbed showed the parents refused to accept the warnings of professionals that the boy was developing a mental illness.
      An independent court-appointed psychiatrist testified Monday that Jenkins suffers from schizophrenia and was insane at the time of the slayings.
      The lawyer's statements Tuesday, made mostly out of the presence of the jury, introduced testimony by Judith Skomars, who was Jenkins' school psychologist when he attended Becker Middle School.
      Two other school district officials, Jackie Arberg, his psychologist at Cimarron-Memorial High School, and special education coordinator Pam Tarkanian, were at the courthouse, but were not called as witnesses after Judge John Einhorn ruled some evidence from the Las Vegas educational records would not be admitted.
      Pam Tarkanian is the daughter of Clark County School Board Trustee Lois Tarkanian and Fresno State basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian.
      Arberg confirmed outside court that the Jenkins case was one of those examined by two outside auditors who wrote a report critical of the school district's special education procedures.
      Although the auditors did not name any students, they wrote in a draft that they shared with six of the seven school board members on April 9 and 10, "In one most serious case, changing the label of the child resulted in that child not receiving the services he demonstrably needed. This child subsequently engaged in quite serious crimes against his immediate family."
      The comments, by auditors Ed Sontag and David Rostetter, were not part of the final report presented to the school district on May 31. The report accused district administrators of breaking special-education laws and violating policies by removing some records from students' files and by overriding decisions about labels and placements for students.
      On the witness stand, Skomars said she saw Jenkins after teachers noticed peculiar behavior, including isolation and withdrawal, preoccupation with death, lack of eye contact, and repeated movements of his head. She said she repeatedly requested but received few of his educational or psychiatric records from the Jenkins family, who had moved to Las Vegas from California in 1993.
      In her meetings with Jenkins, who was then 13, she said she noted his lack of emotional expression and inappropriate smiling. She said the boy told her, "The world is dying. Kids are no good. They go from bad to worse. Pollution is going to kill the world, and you can't trust people, only animals."
      In his statement to police immediately after the slayings, Jenkins said he killed his family because "the world's really messed up and I didn't really want them to live in it anymore. ... too much gangs. ... Too much problems. Too much hate."
      Defense attorneys sparred with prosecutor Mark Pettine throughout the day about evidence. When LaFond tried to introduce testimony that George and Alene Jenkins delayed a medical test that was needed before their son could receive anti-psychotic medication, Pettine said, "They are trying to somehow blame this homicide on the parents."
      The judge responded quickly, "Well, I hope not."
      After the judge left the bench, Arberg asked defense attorneys if she could say hello to Jenkins, who was handcuffed and being taken from the courtroom by the bailiff. The bailiff paused for a moment and instructed Jenkins to say hello to his former psychologist, which he did with no flicker of recognition or emotion. Then he was led away.