But the testimony coming out of Alvaro Castillo's murder trial is enough to indict the system, which recognized a problem but proved impotent to stop it.

Castillo was committed to UNC Hospitals for a week after the boy's father arrived home early and pulled a gun out of his son's hands April 20, 2006.

That time Castillo was trying to kill himself, authorities say. Four months later, he succeeded in killing his father. Neither side disputes the facts. The question for the jury is whether he was legally insane when he did it.

After his suicide attempt, Castillo was committed to UNC Hospitals for a week. After his release, he was seen at OASIS, a program affiliated with UNC Hospitals that treats young people experiencing or on the verge of psychosis.

But after four appointments there, according to Public Defender James Williams, OASIS referred Castillo to Caring Family Network, with a clinic in Hillsborough. A therapist there was so alarmed by Castillo, she extended his first normally 30-minute visit an extra half hour. She found Castillo paranoid, delusional and suffering from schizoaffective disorder.

But Caring Family Network had a backlog, Williams said. The therapist tried to get Castillo back to OASIS. Days passed without a return call, then the answer: No.

We may learn more when testimony resumes. But what happened to Castillo happens all the time, says Mark Sullivan, the director of the Mental Health Association in Orange County.

Sullivan spent an hour in court Thursday watching Castillo's videotapes. Tragically, Sullivan says, Castillo falls in an age range that often fails to qualify for a service called assertive community treatment. It brings the provider to the patient, instead of relying on the patient and his family to follow through.

It's hard enough to get mental health treatment. With state budget cuts, those seeking care will likely experience longer waits, shorter hospital stays and a revolving door like the one that bounced a psychotic Hillsborough teen between service providers like a ticking bomb. Without a solution, Castillo may not be the last to explode.

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