FAIRFAX -- A gubernatorial panel investigating the Virginia Tech shootings heard for the first time from relatives of the victims Monday, including one who charged that the panel was excluding their voices from its review of the April 16 tragedy.

Panel members also expressed lingering frustration over their inability to obtain specific information about gunman Seung-Hui Cho's mental health history, even as they received a report that revealed some new details about a 2005 court order requiring the troubled student to receive outpatient care.

The third public meeting of Gov. Tim Kaine's handpicked panel drew a standing-room-only audience in a stuffy conference room at George Mason University. The panel devoted most of its attention to mental health issues and whether Cho received treatment ordered by a court 16 months before the killings.

But relatives of the shooting victims arguably made the most compelling presentations the panel has heard since it began its work last month. Peter Read, whose daughter Mary was one of 32 people killed, called for greater participation by grieving relatives in the panel's work.

Reading a statement on behalf of relatives of 13 shooting victims, Read said families "must be represented by membership in the work of this panel."

He said this "is the minimum this panel owes to us."

Kaine appointed the eight-member panel within days of the killings and asked the group to examine all aspects of the shootings. Kaine spokesman Kevin Hall said the governor sought "nationally recognized individuals with specific expertise to conduct a thorough and objective review."

After Monday's session, some panel members and the governor's counsel, Larry Roberts, met privately with several relatives of Tech shooting victims.

Family members said afterward they would like to appoint an expert to represent them on the panel. They received no commitment but got "a nod in the right direction," said Tom Fadoul, a lawyer representing several of the families.

Read said grieving parents could bring their own expertise to the review.

"We bring a qualification to the table that we don't feel any of you can match, which is intimate knowledge of what Seung-Hui Cho took from us," Read said.

Holly Sherman, mother of shooting victim Leslie Sherman, said parents need a "conduit" to the panel to ensure they're getting accurate information about its work and direction. "What's happening is we're a little skeptical," she said.

The panel's chairman, Gerald Massengill, said he understood the concerns of family members and would consider holding an additional public meeting to get their input.

"I hope the public and the families will give us a chance to do our work," Massengill said as the meeting began.

Read and Andrew Goddard, the father of shooting survivor Colin Goddard, also urged the panel to consider recommending tougher gun control measures in the report it issues to the governor. Andrew Goddard graphically described the injuries his son suffered in the shootings, and attributed them to a combination of Cho's mental state and "simple, efficient and readily available killing machines."

Advocates on both sides of the gun control argument addressed the panel. Supporters of tougher gun control said the Tech shootings heighten the need to curtail access to semiautomatic weapons and eliminate legal loopholes that enable gun-buyers to skirt criminal background checks. Gun rights advocates called for measures that would allow students and faculty with concealed carry permits to take guns on campus.

The panel had hoped to learn more about Cho's interactions with the mental health system and gained some new information from a report delivered by the state inspector general for mental health.

The panel learned that ambiguous regulations and inadequate resources made it difficult for authorities to monitor Cho after a special justice ordered him to receive outpatient care in December 2005. But members also expressed frustration with legal barriers that keep them from finding out whether Cho received a thorough evaluation during an overnight hospital stay and whether he later got counseling at Tech.

"It's becoming increasingly frustrating for this investigative body to do its work," said panel member Diane Strickland, a former Roanoke County Circuit judge.

Inspector General James Stewart and a consulting psychiatrist walked the panel through a detailed timeline of Cho's encounters with police and mental health authorities following a Dec. 13, 2005, complaint about his behavior. Cho spent 14 hours at Carilion St. Albans Behavioral Health before he was discharged with a court order to receive outpatient counseling. The report confirms that Cho set up an appointment with Tech's Cook Counseling Center, but privacy laws prevent the panel from finding out whether he kept the appointment.

Panel member Tom Ridge asked Stewart whether any record is available to prove whether Cho got court-ordered treatment. When Stewart said he couldn't comment, Ridge clenched his jaw and said, "Fascinating."

Goddard and other parents said they shared the panel's frustration over the lack of access to Cho's records.

"I find it incredibly disturbing and distasteful that an individual who brutally violated the privacy of so many should have his own privacy so doggedly preserved, even though he is deceased," Goddard said.

Massengill addressed the frustration of panel members and victims' families and said the panel will get what it needs to deliver a complete report to the governor.

"We will get the information we need to take this panel where it needs to go," Massengill said.