SEATTLE TIMES FILE PHOTO

Leemah Carneh during a court hearing in November.

When Leemah Carneh came shuffling down the eighth-floor hallway in the King County Courthouse this morning, Mary Marrero glowered at him and flipped him off.

Carneh, flanked by two King County Jail guards, didn't so much as flinch. He didn't comment even when she followed the salute by whispering, "You don't pump fear in me."

For Marrero, the few seconds she has had in the hallway while Carneh walks by have been her chance to "do evil things" to the man accused of killing her 17-year-old daughter, Josie. The "evil" can include swearing, threats and making a slicing gesture over her throat, she says.

Prosecutors said Carneh killed Richard and Jane Larson, their grandson Taelor Marks, 17, and his 17-year-old girlfriend, Josie Peterson, on March 8, 2001, in the Larsons' Des Moines home. They claim in court papers that Carneh was obsessed with Peterson, a high-school cheerleader.

Carneh's mental competency has been in question since the slayings. In 2005, a judge dismissed four aggravated-murder charges against Carneh, clearing the way for him to be civilly committed to a mental institution.

The several times a year that Carneh is brought to court from Western State Hospital, Marrero and Lorraine Marks, whose son and parents were slain, are present. Before each hearing the two women sit outside the courtroom to stare down the accused killer.

This morning, the women nitpicked his appearance -- they say he looks older and heftier than the last time they saw him. Marrero said that Carneh has only once replied to her taunts, by calling her names.

The hearing this morning was a precursor to a mental competency hearing slated for next month.

Marks said that neither women need to attend all of the hearings, but they do so out of love and respect for the victims.

"I feel a responsibility to my family to be here," Marks said. "Love never dies, only people do."