Disabled Man Found Guilty Of Ax Slaying -- State Finally Finds Place For Cushing: Prison

James William Cushing's mother, who had been trying for years to find a place for him, yesterday told him he was going to prison.

Cushing, who is developmentally disabled and has shown violent tendencies the last few years, was convicted by a King County Superior Court jury of aggravated murder in the ax slaying of Geneva McDonald.

``He was bewildered, but he knows now that he is going away,'' said his mother, Jean Kinzer of Seattle. ``I was able to settle him down when I told him he wasn't going to Western State Hospital.''

Shortly after the six-man, six-woman jury announced it had found him guilty of the slaying, Cushing turned to one of his attorneys and asked, ``Does this mean we lost?''

He then tugged at his hair and stared at the table.

Kinzer complained that despite her pleas for help for her son, state agencies balked, judges and court commissioners turned him loose, and government officials said they could do nothing.

``Nobody paid any attention to him before,'' his mother said. ``He could do anything without reprimand. I tried and tried to get DSHS (Department of Social and Health Services) and the governor to help me, but they wouldn't budge. The courts were told he could kill, but they let him out.''

The jury found Cushing guilty of seven felony counts, rejecting his attorney's contention that he was insane when he killed McDonald in her Queen Anne home.

Although Cushing never testified, the jury viewed his hour-long confession to Seattle police. Jurors deliberated seven hours.

Defense attorney Mark Prothero contended Cushing heard voices compelling him to kill and was insane at the time of the homicide last March.

Deputy Prosecutor Lee Yates said there was never a doubt that Cushing knew what he was doing.

Paula Uziel, McDonald's daughter, applauded the verdict.

``The facts speak for themselves,'' said Uziel. ``He hops a bus, he steals, he prowls around at night, he kills. He showed premeditation and brutality; he tried to hide that he did it.

``I'm relieved that it's over.

Nothing's going to bring my mother back.''

Uziel would not discuss whether the family would pursue a suit against the state for failing to keep Cushing supervised.

Last February, a judge released Cushing after a brief hospital commitment for mental observation.

Prothero said the system not only failed Cushing, but McDonald as well.

``Primarily our thoughts should be with her (McDonald's) family first,'' said Prothero. ``Jim is another victim as well of the whole system - by their letting this man out and not taking care of him when he should have been taken care of.''

Cushing, 37, will spend the rest of his life in prison, without possibility of release.

Veltry Johnson, Corrections Department spokesman, said Cushing will be evaluated at the state corrections center at Shelton. He might be housed at the Special Offender Center at Monroe, adjacent to the reformatory, where counseling, group therapy and courses in stress and anger management are offered.

The center is at capacity with 144 offenders who are mentally disabled, Johnson said.

Jurors also found Cushing guilty of attempted first-degree murder, first-degree burglary and attempted burglary.

Kinzer said her son would call her occasionally during the trial and ask questions, but he never really knew what was happening. ``He couldn't commit such a crime, but there was a second personality that listened to an imaginary friend and he would take off,'' she said.