Sept. 16
WASHINGTON: Death penalty weighed in Roxanne Doll case It took a jury only 2 hours to decide that Richard Clark should be executed for the rape and slaying of 7-year-old Roxanne Doll. But will a new jury reach a similar decision more than 8 years later? That's one of the issues confronting Snohomish County Prosecutor Janice Ellis as she begins to weigh whether to seek the death penalty a 2nd time against the man convicted of one of the county's most notorious murders. Clark was 26 when he abducted Roxanne, the daughter of a friend, from her Everett bedroom on March 31, 1995. The second-grader's body was found about a week later under a pile of yard clippings in North Everett. Clark was convicted of aggravated 1st-degree murder, 1st-degree rape and 1st-degree kidnapping and was sentenced to death in 1997. But in 2001 the state Supreme Court ruled the jury that sentenced Clark to death was prejudiced because of prosecutors telling the jurors that Clark previously had been convicted of locking a 4-year-old girl in his grandfather's garage. The high court ordered that Clark be resentenced. Because the Supreme Court decision only affects the penalty phase of Clark's 1st trial, his conviction is not in question, said defense attorney Jeffrey Ellis. He said that if Prosecutor Janice Ellis (no relation) decides not to seek the death penalty, Clark, now, 36, will automatically be sentenced to life in prison without parole. In Washington, the two sentences possible for aggravated 1st-degree murder are life imprisonment or the death penalty. **** Richard Clark timeline April 1, 1995: 7-year-old Roxanne Doll is reported missing from her South Everett home. April 7, 1995: Richard Clark, 26, a friend of the Doll family, is arrested for investigation of tampering with a witness in the case. He also is the prime suspect in Roxanne's disappearance. April 8, 1995: Roxanne's body is found in North Everett. April 13, 1995: Clark is charged with 1st-degree murder and 1st-degree kidnapping. March 28, 1997: Clark's trial for aggravated 1st-degree murder, 1st-degree rape and 1st-degree kidnapping gets under way in Snohomish County Superior Court after numerous delays and 2 defense requests for a change of venue. April 15, 1997: Clark is convicted on all counts. 3 days later, he is sentenced to death. June 7, 2001: The state Supreme Court overturns Clark's death sentence because prosecutors illegally introduced details of Clark's previous conviction. The court orders that Clark receive a new death penalty sentencing phase. Sept. 15, 2004: Superior Court Judge Richard Thorpe sets May 11 as the start of Clark's new sentencing phase. **** Yesterday, Superior Court Judge Richard Thorpe said Clark's death-penalty sentencing phase will begin May 11. Janice Ellis said yesterday that she had not decided whether she will again seek the death penalty. She said Jeffrey Ellis and fellow defense attorney Kevin Cole have sent her paperwork explaining why the death penalty should not be sought against their client. Both she and Jeffrey Ellis declined to say what was in the paperwork. "We gave Ms. Ellis information that she did not have previously about Mr. Clark," Jeffrey Ellis said. "She does have new information that the former prosecutor didn't have." During Clark's trial, jurors heard testimony about Clark's troubled childhood, including abuse he suffered at the hands of a relative, as a reason for leniency. But the jury wasn't swayed. "We were looking for reasons to offer Clark leniency," one juror said after the trial. "It just wasn't there." When Clark's death sentence was overturned, former Snohomish County Prosecutor Jim Krider said he intended to send Clark back to death row. Krider was defeated by Ellis in 2002 when he sought a 3rd term in office. Bill Iffrig, Roxanne's great-uncle, said he hopes the prosecutor seeks the death penalty. "I think he deserves to die," Iffrig said yesterday. "What he did to that young girl, it was terrible." Janice Ellis said there are concerns that when the sentencing phase starts next year, evidence and testimony will be more than a decade old. "Witnesses move away, memories fade and sometimes evidence is not available," she said. "Some of those issues exist in this case." Jeffrey Ellis said these issues "are a problem for both sides." (source: Seattle Times) NEW YORK: Officials protest executions, citing race, income biases Elected officials and anti-death penalty advocates have called on the state Legislature not to reinstate executions, which they contend are imposed disproportionately against blacks, Latinos, the poor and the powerless. The New York State Court of Appeals ruled against capital punishment, but the state Senate has passed legislation to reinstate it. "The death penalty is an unjust and ineffective public policy that has put innocent people to death," said City Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing) at a news conference on the steps of City Hall last Thursday. "The death penalty has also been extremely expensive to administer," he said. "New York has spent $170 million since 1994 on the death penalty despite the fact that no executions have taken place." City Councilman Hiram Monserrate (D-Jackson Heights) said "for decades we have known of the undeniable racial disparities in the imposition of capital punishment. I wish to commend the court for their decision and ask the state Legislature to uphold this progressive and just ruling." Since the appeals court ordered the suspension of the death penalty in June, the state Senate passed legislation that would reinstate the capital sentence. State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) said the Assembly would also consider a bill to restore capital punishment. Legislative observers said opposition in the Assembly to such a bill was strong. David Kaczynski, executive director of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty, told the news conference that the "worst aspect of the death penalty is that it divides communities by creating separate standards of justice based on race, class and social status. It thrives on the worst human instincts while diverting public resources from human and community development." "Instead of investing foolishly in vengeance, we ought to be investing wise in humanity," Kaczynski said. In passing a bill to reinstate capital punishment, the state Senate also rewrote the sentencing laws to change provisions that the Court of Appeals used to overturn the death penalty. It was not clear whether such changes might affect the death sentence against John Taylor, one of the four peopleheld on death row at the Clinton Correctional Facility at Dannemora, N.Y. near the Canadian border. Taylor was sentenced to death in 2003 after he was convicted of killing 2 workers at a Wendy's restaurant on Main Street in Flushing and ordering Craig Godineaux, a mentally retarded accomplice, to shoot 5 other employees in the restaurant. 7 people were shot and 5 died in the massacre in May 2000. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said this past week that even if a new sentencing hearing is ordered in the Taylor case, "I will continue to seek a sentence of death." "I remain satisfied that under the law, a sentence of death in the Wendy's case is more than justified," Brown said. New Yorkers Against Capital Punishment quote state records in recounting that since 1973, 113 death row prisoners have been released from prison after it was found they had been wrongly convicted, with some having come very close being executed. Both those who favor capital punishment and those who oppose it cite statistics they say support their views on whether the death penalty reduces crime. (source: Flushing Times Ledger)
