
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 10, 1992                   TAG: 9203100309
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                                LENGTH: Medium

VA. BEACH TEEN GUILTY OF MURDERS

A teen-ager accused of murdering two younger boys in his neighborhood was convicted Monday of capital murder by a jury that rejected arguments the youth was insane at the time of the slayings.

The jury of seven women and five men deliberated about 90 minutes before convicting Shawn Paul Novak, 17, who could be sentenced to life in prison or death.

Novak sat impassively as the verdict was announced. Circuit Judge John Moore set sentencing for April 15. Moore earlier ruled that he, not the jury, would determine Novak's sentence.

Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Humphreys credited solid police work for the conviction.

"Obviously I'm pleased," he said. "We thought the evidence was frankly overwhelming."

Defense Attorney Richard Brydges did not want to talk about the case following the verdict.

"It's just sad, sad for everybody," he said.

Humphreys would not say whether he would ask for the death penalty at sentencing. If Novak receives a death sentence, he would be the only child on Virginia's death row.

Earlier in the day, a psychiatrist testifying for the prosecution said Novak's fascination with a troll and other make-believe creatures was not a sign of debilitating mental illness.

"Everybody engages in magical thinking," Dr. Paul Mansheim said. "That's why people buy lottery tickets."

Novak was 16 years old last March when Daniel Wayne Geier, 9, and Christopher Scot Weaver, 7, were found slain in woods next to the Navy housing development where they and Novak lived.

Friday, a defense psychiatrist, Dr. Robert Showalter, said he concluded that Novak had a form of schizophrenia and had developed an alternate personality, a troll-like character he called Kender, that had control when the boys were slain.

"He did not, as Shawn Novak, understand what he was doing," Showalter said. "The driving force was the Kender character."

But Mansheim said Kender, actually a collection of characters from the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game that Novak liked, did not dominate the teen-ager to the point of making him lose touch with reality.

He disputed Showalter's diagnosis, calling it appropriate for an adult but not for a child. "There's no psychiatric disorder present that would cause him not to know right from wrong," he testified.

In closing arguments, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Frank Zanin showed the jury school pictures of the two victims.

by CNB