By LEONARD GRAY

CONVENT – Lutcher teen-ager Ryan Caldarera, faced with two second-degree murder charges, goes to court Jan. 31 at 9 a.m. to determine if he was insane at the time he allegedly shot and killed his father and stepmother.

Meanwhile, no trial date has been set on the charges, according to prosecuting attorney Thomas Kliebert Jr. “Nothing happens until that’s settled,” he said.

Should Caldarera be judged to not be of sound mind at the time of the crimes, he would be committed and not tried.

His last court appearance was Oct. 15 when he and his court-appointed attorney Dale Petit entered his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Should he be judged to have been sane at the time, Caldarera faces trial for the shooting deaths of his father and stepmother, Victor “Sonny” and Tracy Caldarera of Lutcher.

The youth, a 14-year-old seventh-grade student at Lutcher Junior High School at the time, allegedly shot and killed the couple in their Texas Street home on the night of April 4, 2001, leaving behind his 6-year-old half-sister.

He was indicted Oct. 3 by a St. James Parish Grand Jury on two counts of second-degree murder. Judge Alvin Turner Jr. accepted the Grand Jury’s indictment and set bond of $250,000 on each count. He has remained in custody since then.

At Caldarera’s Oct. 15 hearing before 23rd Judicial District Judge Ralph Tureau, Petit moved for a continuance of the arraignment, and gave for his reason the decision from the Louisiana Supreme Court on the question as to how Caldarera would be tried, as an adult or as a 15-year-old youth, on the two charges of second-degree murder.

Tureau denied the motion and proceeded with the arraignment. The Louisiana Supreme Court denied Caldarera’s petition to be tried as a juvenile on Oct. 24.

The case is now moved to Division C of the 23rd JDC, and the sanity hearing will be held Jan. 31 at 9 a.m. before Judge Guy Holdridge.