A psychologist who examined Nathan Ybanez about nine months before he killed his mother said he recommended a complete psychiatric examination and family therapy that was never done.

"I didn't see him again," said Dr. Daniel Fisher, of Centennial Peaks Hospital, where Ybanez was hospitalized for two days after his father threw him against the wall during an argument and police were called.

Fisher said he learned during Ybanez's stay that he had entertained thoughts of suicide when he was 12 years old.

Fisher said he heard about the murder of Julie Ybanez in June 1998 while watching news on television.

"I thought it was highly likely someone would contact me," he said, but no one involved in Ybanez's defense did.

Fisher testified at a hearing in which Ybanez's new team of defense lawyers are trying to get him a new trial, an appeal or a reduced sentence.

He is serving a life sentence without parole for first-degree murder.

His lawyers contend that Craig Truman, the defense attorney during the trial, didn't present an adequate defense and never sought reports about Ybanez like the one available from Centennial Peaks.

He said Ybanez told him, "I don't want to live with my parents anymore. I don't respect the way they are acting."

Fisher said Ybanez also told him his father slammed him against a bedpost but that he didn't consider that to be abuse because police had told him it wasn't abuse if it didn't leave a mark or a bruise.

Douglas County District Judge Nancy Hopf will hear testimony from the last witnesses Friday and will issue a written decision later.