As a judge dismissed the four aggravated murder charges against a man accused of killing their loved ones in Des Moines nearly five years ago, the family and friends of Taelor Marks, Josie Peterson and Dick and Jane Larson grappled with grief and anger.

"There's a long road ahead, but I swear to you, this is not over," said Lorraine Marks, who lost her parents and her son in the Mach 8, 2001 murders attributed by police and prosecutors to 23 -year-old Leemah Carneh.

King County Superior Court Judge Michael Spearman this morning formally dismissed four aggravated first-degree murder charges against Carneh, clearing the way for him to be civilly committed to a mental institution.

Prosecutors said that should Carneh regain competency they will refile murder charges against him for the slayings of the Larsons, their 17-year-old grandson and his 17-year-old girlfriend.

Carneh's mental health has been at the center of a long-running legal battle that went all the way to the state Supreme Court and ended last week when Spearman ruled that Carneh was not competent to stand trial.

Mental health experts for prosecutors and the defense team had agreed in numerous evaluations that Carneh was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, but they differed about whether forcibly administered anti-psychotic drugs have restored his competency enough for him to assist his attorneys.

The ruling felt like a slap in the face to the victims' loved one who said they were further upset this morning when the judge cut off the prosecutor as he spoke of the victims.

"There is no justice," sobbed Josie Peterson's mother, Mary Marrero, in the hallway after the hearing. "What do they want from us. We have nothing to do now but go home."

The victims' families said that all through the case, the legal stem has been focused on the rights of the man accused in the murders and not on the rights of the people killed.

"It's going to be wrong until they begin to call it the victims' justice system and not the criminal justice system," said Taelor Marks' godmother, Stacey Reynolds. "It's like he (Carneh) matters more than Taelor, Josie, Dick and Jane."

Family members and supporters - who attended the hearing wearing t-shirts with pictures of the victims and the question, "Where's Justice?" -have said they believe Carneh should stand trial.

"He's no more insane than anyone else who commits mass murder," said Lorraine Marks. "If he was competent enough to plan it and competent enough to try to get away with it, then he's competent enough to stand trial,"

Marks has begun an effort to convince legislators to revise the competency laws so that people who have a criminal record but no history of mental illness cannot later be deemed incompetent to stand trial after committing "a heinous act."

She and her supporters are also vowing that they will never forget the victims or stop pushing for a trial. "Justice will not be served until the victims are served," said Reynolds. "We will never forget that he has to be held accountable for his acts."

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com