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This story was corrected on March 9, 2010. An explanation of the correction follows the story.

Yohannes T. Surafel pleaded guilty Friday to kidnapping a Clinton bank branch manager and her family in late 2008 and plotting to rob the bank where she worked. But during the plea hearing he also claimed he was not criminally responsible, due to a disturbed mental state caused by childhood trauma and proximity to the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007 when he was a student there.

Opening arguments and testimony began Monday in a Prince George's County Circuit courtroom to decide whether Surafel, 25, was criminally responsible for the kidnapping. The outcome of these hearings will affect what kind of penalty he faces, if any.

Nine witnesses — mostly Surafel's family members, friends and former teachers — testified Monday before Judge Michael Pearson. Surafel's Greenbelt-based attorney, Richard Finci, argued in his opening statement that a series of traumatic incidents in Surafel's life caused a "downward spiral" in his mental health and caused him to have little or no control over his actions.

"There is no evidence he could control his conduct," Finci said to the judge.

Assistant State's Attorney Carol Coderre, who is prosecuting the case, said in her opening statement that although Surafel may have suffered some form of mental disturbance, the degree to which he planned and carried out the kidnapping and attempted robbery are evidence he was "able to conform his behavior."

Surafel, whose last address was in Washington, D.C., is accused of kidnapping LaChrista Hamilton and her family at gunpoint the night of Dec. 26 in their Briarcliff Drive home in Clinton. Surafel and two other men allegedly planned to take the family the following morning to the Silver Spring branch where Hamilton worked to carry out an armed robbery.

The morning of Dec. 27, the men ordered Hamilton's husband, James Spruill, to drive the family to the bank with Surafel in the back seat, according to prosecutors. Before they reached the bank, however, police stopped the car and arrested Surafel, according to court documents.

Yosef Tadele, 23, of Silver Spring and Beruk Ayalneh, 24, whose last known address is in Arlington, Va., were also charged in connection with the incident. Tadele pleaded guilty in July to being an accessory after the fact and will be sentenced after this week's hearings. He was accused of driving Surafel and Ayalneh to Hamilton's home on Dec. 26 and picking up Ayalneh the next day with the intention of meeting up with Surafel later.

Ayalneh's whereabouts are still unknown, according to court records.

On Monday, witnesses filled in a detailed timeline of Surafel's life, from when he emigrated with his sister from Ethiopia to the District as a toddler to the weeks just before the kidnapping in 2008. Family members, friends and former teachers testified that Surafel was an outgoing but studious young man. They described an ambitious chemical engineering major at Virginia Tech who began to shut down emotionally after the suicides of a close friend and a cousin in early 2007, followed shortly by the Virginia Tech massacre in April, in which 32 people died.

Surafel's sister, Yalemberham Tibebu, testified that Surafel "became more of a loner" after the shootings, refusing to socialize and delving into his schoolwork.

Three former teacher and mentors of Surafel's from the Mountain Mission School, a kindergarten through 12th grade boarding school in Grundy, Va., and several of Surafel's friends also told the judge that Surafel became noticeably withdrawn around this time.

Friends testified that in summer 2008, Surafel left a well paying job in Texas only a few weeks after he started, became less concerned with his personal hygiene, and spoke often about the Virginia Tech shootings and other traumatic events he had experienced.

In her questioning, Coderre focused on whether Surafel ever showed a complete loss of control over his actions or severe emotional distress, such as visual or auditory hallucinations, to which most witnesses answered that he did not.

Mental health experts who evaluated Surafel are expected to testify Tuesday. Hamilton and her family were not in court Monday but are expected to attend the hearings later in the week, Coderre said. She had no other comment on the case.

Finci said testimony went as he expected Monday, but declined to comment further.

Surafel's friends and family either declined to comment or were unavailable for an interview following their testimony.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the scheduled sentencing date for Yosef Tadele.

E-mail Zoe Tillman at ztillman@gazette.net.