Richard Baumhammers is not a madman but a frustrated white supremacist who knew what he was doing when he shot six people, killing five, in a racially motivated rampage, a prosecutor said in opening statements Friday.

The trial for Baumhammers, 35, began Friday morning, almost a year to the day after the nonpracticing immigration attorney went on an afternoon rampage that crossed two counties.

It concluded Friday evening and resumes Saturday.

Baumhammers' attorneys maintain he was insane at the time and is innocent of the charges of homicide and ethnic intimidation, Pennsylvania's version of a hate crime.

He is accused of killing his Jewish neighbor, a man of Indian descent, two Asian employees of a Chinese restaurant, and a black man outside a karate school. Another man of Indian descent was critically wounded.

Deputy Allegheny County District Attorney Edward Borkowski told the jury Friday that Baumhammers picked his victims on April 28, 2000, "not because of a delusional disorder -- but because of the color of their skin and the nature of their religion."

Borkowski said Baumhammers is a misguided loner who cruised Internet sites devoted to stopping nonwhite immigration and "thinks (Oklahoma City bomber) Timothy McVeigh is a hero."

"He thinks Adolf Hitler is a genius," the prosecutor said.

Borkowski said Baumhammers wanted to unite hate groups to make them more effective but found no one interested in helping him.

"He decided it was time for someone to act. ... He decided to step into history," Borkowski told the jury.

William Difenderfer, who represents Baumhammers, said his client's insanity defense was not concocted to protect him from prosecution but is a long-standing health problem.

"This is not 'How are we going to defend this guy? We'll have to come up with something quick,"' Difenderfer said. "What we're asking you to do is look into his mind through his very disturbed, crazy eyes."

Baumhammers' father, Andrejs, began crying when Difenderfer recited for the jury a brief history of his son's mental problems.

Difenderfer said in the months leading up to the shootings that Baumhammers spent much of his time in the bedroom of his parents' home in Mt. Lebanon with the blinds drawn and the lights off.

Since the early 1990s Baumhammers had complained to his parents, Attorney General Mike Fisher and at least one attorney that the FBI was following him and the government was shooting lasers at him.

Difenderfer said references to McVeigh and Hitler were meant to inflame the jury and push them toward convicting Baumhammers and sentencing him to death.

Borkowski promised the jury he would disprove Baumhammers' claims of mental illness but did not reveal how he planned to do it.

"We will not lend it any credibility or legal or factual legs to stand on because ultimately, it won't have any," the prosecutor said.

Mt. Lebanon police officer Edward Krappwies, who was among the first group of witnesses called to testify Friday, said he had responded to the home of Baumhammers' neighbor Anita Gordon, who prosecutors say was his first victim. While there, reports of another shooting, at a restaurant, came in with a license plate number for a suspect's car.

The license plate was traced to Baumhammers' address and Krappwies said he went next door, where he asked Baumhammers' mother for a photograph of her son. He said he also asked her if Baumhammers had a history of mental illness.

He said that Baumhammers' mother told him her son had an undiagnosed psychiatric problem.

Previous Stories:

• April 27, 2001: Almost 1 Year Later, Baumhammers Trial Begins
• April 9, 2001: Judge Orders Taylor Back To Jail
• April 8, 2001: Plea Bargains Offered For Baumhammers, Taylor
• March 20, 2001: Did Baumhammers Research Alleged Victims?
• January 2, 2001: Allegheny County Seeking 3 Death Sentences
• November 18, 2000: Attorney: Baumhammers Can Get Fair Trial
• September 16, 2000: Baumhammers Ruled Competent To Stand Trial
• August 29, 2000: Lone Shooting Spree Survivor Goes Home
• May 17, 2000: Heroes Honored In Beaver County
• May 3, 2000: Baumhammers Arraigned In Allegheny County
• May 3, 2000: Company Reposts Baumhammers' Site
• April 30, 2000: D.A. Says Note Could Reveal Hate Motive
• April 29, 2000: Who Is Richard Baumhammers?
• April 29, 2000: Suspect Arraigned In Shooting Spree