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DA: Father pondered killing son weeks before the slaying

A man who has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in his son’s slaying told doctors he thought about killing the boy weeks before the day that the boy was shot nine times, according to court filings.

District Judge Brian Flynn last week ruled that jurors in the murder trial of 53-year-old Allen
Grabe can hear testimony from a doctor who met with Grabe in early 2009 for a court-ordered sanity evaluation at the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo.

During interviews, Grabe admitted he thought about killing 13-year-old Jacob Grabe but chose not to act, court filings said.

“This occurred on two occasions,” a prosecutor wrote of the interviews, adding Allen Grabe acknowledged having the thoughts a few weeks before he allegedly shot and killed his son.

Prosecutors argue the admissions show Grabe was sane at the time and capable of forming the mental state needed for first-degree murder.

Grabe is scheduled for trial in March.

Grabe has claimed he believed his son was being raised in a manner he didn’t agree with, “and that his only two options were to allow him to continue to be raised this way, or kill him and send him to heaven,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Dan Rubinstein wrote in a filing.

Jacob Grabe had been treated for Asperger’s syndrome, a neurological disorder similar to autism.

An arrest affidavit alleges Allen Grabe entered his son’s bedroom the night of Sept. 11, 2008, and shot the boy as he slept. Allen Grabe allegedly told his wife, “I had to kill him because you were ruining him.”

In a separate ruling, Flynn last week said Grabe’s jury can hear testimony from a series of family members or friends whom prosecutors had sought to introduce at trial for character evidence.