Gabriel Klein should be found guilty of murder, Crown says in closing arguments

Gabriel Klein's bizarre behaviour while in custody shows he tried to feign mental illness after stabbing and killing a 13-year-old girl at an Abbotsford high school, a B.C. Crown prosecutor said Tuesday.

During the second day of his closing arguments in a New Westminster courtroom,prosecutor Rob Macgowantold court Klein's actions the day of the attack were deliberate.

He said there is no reason to believe Klein was unaware of the consequences, and that heshould be found guilty of murder.

Klein admitted to stabbing 13-year-old Letisha Reimerbut his lawyer is arguing he be found not criminally responsible by reason of a mental disorder. He was declaredfit to stand trial earlier this year and pleaded not guilty tosecond-degree murder and aggravated assault.

The 23-year-old man has schizophrenia, but Macgowansaid there is no indication he was experiencing a psychotic episode at the time of the attack, which also injured another girl.

Klein was initially compliant when he was taken into custody,he said.

Shortly after, he began to apparently fake seizures, defecated in a hospital bed, banged his head against walls and changed his behaviour depending on who was in the room, Macgowan explained.

"Klein engaged in acts that could certainly be explained by a desire to appear in some way mentally disturbed," he said.

"There is little in the way of evidence before the court that would connect that behaviour to any particular mental illness."

'Calmly' looked at hunting knives in store

Instead of being mentally ill at the time of the attack, Kleinwas angry, desperate and hopelessand capable of contemplating drastic violence, Macgowan said.

As further testament to his apparent ability to make decisions and execute them,Macgowan pointed to how Klein stole alcohol the day of the stabbing. After that, he went into a hunting store and "calmly" compared knives.

He then hid a knife under his sweater before the stabbing.

"Mr. Klein was capable of and, in fact, engaged in deliberate conduct from the point of his arrest through to the point in time and afterwards that he began to co-operate with his corrections staff," Macgowan said.

"Any change in Mr. Klein's behaviour was the product of his own volition."

Klein sat in the prisoner's box in the courtroom wearing a navy sweatshirt. He periodically looked back at the viewing gallery but showed little emotion.

Klein looks radically different than he did in police surveillance images released around the time of the attack. Heis now heavier and has longer, curlyhair.

The defence is expected to present closing arguments on Wednesday.