A Pima County judge ruled a former UA student, who is being charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder, is incompetent to stand trial, a ruling that came as a shock to the victim's family Jan. 6.

Sebastian T. Walas, 29, suffered from gunshot wounds to the head but survived in 2002 from what police believe to be an attempted suicide-murder involving his girlfriend and her 9-year-old son.

Walas suffered from head injuries after police suspect he shot and killed his girlfriend and turned the gun on himself.

The 9-year-old boy called police on the morning of Feb. 15, 2002, and said his mother's boyfriend was shooting a gun in their home on the 1400 block of East Elm Street.

When police entered, they found Karla Hackeborn dead from gunshot wounds and Walas suffering from life-threatening wounds. The 9-year-old boy did not sustain any injuries.

Neither Hackeborn nor Walas were students at the time of the shootings. Walas was, however, a UA student in 1998, said Evelyn Coral, an administrative assistant in the Dean of Students Office. No other information about Walas' status as a former student could be released.

According to Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure, being incompetent to stand trial entails that "a person shall not be tried, convicted, sentenced or punished for a public offense ... while as a result of a mental illness, defect, or disability, the person is unable to understand the proceeding against him or her or to assist in his or her own defense."

Hackeborn's mother, Barbara Lawrence, said although Walas remains partially paralyzed from the incident in 2002, he is not as incompetent as he seems to be because his recovery has been remarkable.

"He knows how to work the system," she said. "He's putting on an act."

In a faxed document describing Judge Hon Howard Fell's ruling, he stated "the defendant (Walas) never acquired memory of the incident itself because of the severe and contemporaneous insult to his brain at the time the victim was shot."

Dr. Barry Morenz, a member of the team of doctors who examined and evaluated Walas, testified that Walas would never be able to recover memories from the morning of the shootings, the document stated.

Further in the document, Fell stated Walas "could not make an intelligent decision about whether to call various witnesses, could not intelligently decide whether or not to testify on his own behalf."

Lawrence said she wants Fell's decision appealed. If an appeal is not granted, Walas' case will be dropped.

"I'm clinging to the last thread," Lawrence said.

Lawrence said Walas should be held accountable for his actions three years ago, whether in prison, a hospital or a psychiatric unit.

"He needs to be locked up," she said. "Just as long as he's not walking the streets."

Lawrence said everyone seems to be concerned with Walas' rights, but no one considers how Hackeborn lost her rights in February 2002.

Lawrence said Walas threatened her family for a long time before the shooting, and the last time she saw him, Walas pulled a gun on Lawrence's then-husband.

"Before he left he said, 'You have a police officer living across the street. Tell him to watch your house day and night,'" Lawrence said.

The threats were not just aimed at Lawrence and her ex-husband, but also at Hackeborn and her son Damian, Lawrence said.

Lawrence said Walas threatened her daughter by telling her that he had ties to the Mafia, forcing her to continue living with him.

Hackeborn grew out of touch with friends and family members and became very thin, Lawrence said. Phone calls and visits became less and less frequent, she said, and Walas would not let Hackeborn visit for long periods of time.

"She used to like to have a good time," Lawrence said.

Lawrence said Hackeborn always asked her to take care of Damian if anything were to happen to her.

Lawrence takes care of now-12-year-old Damian in Chandler and said he is coping very well.

As a mother, Lawrence said she wants justice served.

"I don't hate him because hate is too strong of a word," she said. "Hate won't bring Karla back."

Despite Fell's ruling that would exempt Walas from standing trial, Lawrence said Walas would probably suffer forever because he will never again lead a normal life.

"I'm not inhumane to want him to be in pain," Lawrence said. "But I do feel he's in his own prison."