Mark Prothero - Defending Gary: Unraveling the Mind of the Green River Killer

Prothero.ffirs 3/24/06 9:21 AM Page iii

Mark Prothero

with Carlton Smith

Q Defending Gary

Unraveling the Mind of

the Green River Killer

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Prothero.ffirs 3/24/06 9:21 AM Page i

Defending Gary

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Prothero.ffirs 3/24/06 9:21 AM Page iii Mark Prothero

with Carlton Smith

Q Defending Gary

Unraveling the Mind of

the Green River Killer

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Copyright 2006 by Mark Prothero and Carlton Smith. All rights reserved.

Published by Jossey-Bass

A Wiley Imprint

989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1741

www.josseybass.com

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Prothero, Mark, date.

Defending Gary : unraveling the mind of the Green River Killer / Mark Prothero, with Carlton Smith. 1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-0-7879-8106-8

ISBN-10: 0-7879-8106-0

1. Ridgway, Gary Leon, 1949- 2. Ridgway, Gary Leon, 1949-Trials, litigation, etc. 3. Serial murdersWashington (State)Green River (King County)Case studies. 4. Serial murderers

Washington (State)Green River (King County)Psychology. 5. Trials (Murder)Washington (State)Green River (King County) I. Smith, Carlton, date. II. Title.

HV6533.W2P76 2006

364.152'3092dc22

2006001253

Printed in the United States of America

FIRST EDITION

HB Printing

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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Q Contents

Acknowledgments

vii

About Our Sources

xi

Part One: The News

Part Two: The Team

Part Three: The Deal

Part Four: The Talk

Part Five: The Truth

Notes

About the Authors

Index

v

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For the victimsthe living as well as the dead.

CS and MP

To the memory of my dad, Bob, who passed away on November 7, 2005, and to my mom, Shirley.

And to Kelly, Sean, and Marley. I would never have had this chance without their enduring love, support, and guidance.

MP

Prothero.flast 3/24/06 9:21 AM Page vii Q Acknowledgments

There are many people I wish to acknowledge and thank for their support, encouragement, and help in writing this book.

First and foremost, I want to thank my co-counsel, Todd Gruenhagen. Not only is he a great lawyer, he is a great friend. I dont know if we could have achieved this resolution without him.

Thanks to another great lawyer and great friend, Greg Girard, for calling me on November 30, 2001, and for partnering up with me to venture into private practice. And for carrying the load for us while I worked on this book.

One of the best parts of this experience was having the opportunity to work with Tony Savage. He calmly steered Team Ridgway through some tough passages and handled every situation with an abundance of class. Thanks, Tony.

Thanks to my coauthor, Carlton Smith, for his patience and wisdom. This was truly a collaboration and Carltons insights were invaluable. And for taking my words and making them into something readable.

Thanks to my agent, Jane Dystel, for making this all happen.

Also, thanks to Alan Rinzler from Jossey-Bass for all of his insights and constructive criticism. Thanks to all the people who worked on this project at Jossey-Bass and John Wiley & Sons.

Many stories and names had to be left out of this book because it was getting so long. During my twenty years at ACA, I was fortunate to work with the best, hardest-working attorneys, investigators, and staff of any public defender office youll ever come across. I learned so much and had a great time in the process. Thanks to everyone at ACA, and especially to my good friends Dave Chapman, Don Madsen, Lou Frantz, Martha Walton, Jim Robinson, Fabian Acosta, Carl Luer, Dennis Hough, Byron Ward, and George Eppler. Also, former ACA director, Roy Howson. And ACAs founder and mentor to all of us, the late Irving Paul.

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A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S

Thanks to everyone on the Ridgway Defense Team: Lawyers: Todd, Tony, Suzanne Elliott, Eric Lindell, Michele Shaw, Dave Roberson, and Fred Leatherman (also, thanks to attorneys David Zuckerman, Roger Hunko, and Rita Griffith for their insights and materials).

Investigators: Bettye Witherspoon, Denise Scaffidi, Lis Frost, Jay Joslin, Susan Stafford, Mary Boben, Jerry Esterly, Lynn Erickson, and DNA investigator Susan Herrero.

Paralegals: Janna Witt-Richards, Donna McDougal, Amy Wadley, Rebecca Allen, Ariella Wagonfield, Joe Baker, Gordon McKendry, Stacy Wilson, Kelsey Case, Erin Curtis, Anna Frandsen, and Fauzia Suleman.

Accountant: Vanessa Baird.

Certus Consulting: Norman Yee and Kathi Wilkerson and all the

discovery readers.

Experts: Mary Goody, Judith Becker, Mark Cunningham, John Thornton, Craig Beaver, Sterling Clarren, William Logan, Alan Cohen, Dan Spitz, Neal Haskell, Stephanie Kavanaugh, Chet Dettlinger, James Hudson, Randy Libby, Elizabeth Johnson, and Larry Mueller.

Thanks to the King County prosecutor and his staff. This historical resolution would not have been achieved without the courageous decision by Norm Maleng. The difficult process was bearable due to the professionalism of all those working for the prosecution: Jeff Baird, Patricia Eakes, Brian McDonald, Sean ODonnell, Ian Goodhew, Mark Larson, Dan Satterberg, and Kelly Rosa.

Likewise, the members of the Green River Task Force were first-class all the way through: Tom Jensen, Randy Mullinax, Sue Peters, Jon Mattsen, Kevin OKeefe, the late Jim Doyon, Jim Graddon, Ray Green, D. B. Gates, Malcolm Chang, Ross Nooney, Mike Brown, Roger Kel-lams, Jeff Thomas, Scott Click, Laura Hoffenbacker, Rafe Crenshaw, and Tony McNabb.