Relatives Of Dodd's Victims Want To See Execution But Are Shut Out

Who should get to witness the execution of Westley Allan Dodd?

As the state prepares for its first execution in 30 years, that question is emerging as an issue that threatens to spill into court.

Relatives of victims killed by Dodd want to attend the scheduled Jan. 5 hanging and are outraged that the state never even bothered to ask if they wanted to.

"I definitely want to go and I think I should have the right to go," said Jewell Cornell, mother of Lee Iseli, one of three young boys killed by Dodd.

It's not fair, she said, that in a policy and procedure manual issued last week, the state Department of Corrections reserved 12 of 14 witness seats for the media.

The two other spots are for Clark County Prosecuting Attorney Art Curtis, who has said he doesn't plan to attend, and for the sentencing judge, Robert Harris, who hasn't made up his mind.

"It was our child that was killed," said Cornell, "not the public or the media."

Curtis and Dodd's attorney, Darrell Lee, agree with her.

The two lawyers say they may join forces in the next week or two to obtain a court order requiring the state to allow the victims' relatives to attend the execution at the penitentiary in Walla Walla.

There's little indication the Corrections Department will relent short of a court order, said Assistant Attorney General Kathy Mix, who represents the department.

Her client's "pretty firm" position, Mix said, is that the media will be "the party responsible for conveying the circumstances of the execution to the public."

The decision to exclude all but the media, the prosecutor and the judge was based, Mix said, on the department's belief that the media "best represents the public interest in being present, and so they've given the media very adequate space, and they have difficulty determining where to cut off access beyond that point once you get into people who have a personal interest in the case."

Department spokesman Veltry Johnson admitted Washington's execution-witness policy may be the most restrictive in the nation, but he noted no one has a legal right to be there.

There was a time, Johnson noted, when the public was excluded altogether. When the execution was over, the warden would meet with reporters to describe what happened.

Mix said she didn't know how the department came up with the number 14, acknowledging that the Walla Walla fire marshal has examined the room and found it could hold 17 sitting witnesses, 38 if they were all standing.

The department's decision to exclude Dodd's attorney raises the hackles of groups that oppose the death penalty. Even Curtis, the prosecutor, thinks the prisoner has a right to have counsel present at every critical stage of a criminal proceeding.

"I'd think the ultimate sanction is a critical stage," Curtis said.

Johnson countered that Dodd's lawyer will otherwise have regular access to his client at the penitentiary.

Virtually all states with capital-punishment statutes permit the prisoner's lawyer to be present at the execution, according to spokeswomen with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and with the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

In addition, many states, as well as proposed federal rules that would govern executions in federal prisons, allow death-row prisoners to ask for a relative, adult friend or spiritual adviser to be present, said the NAACP's Kica Matos.

Lee, Dodd's attorney, yesterday said he planned to learn his client's wishes.

Lee said he was outraged the state "would not allow the victims' parents to attend . . . and I suspect that Mr. Dodd will be, too."

Dodd, 31, was sentenced to die in 1990 after pleading guilty to molesting and killing Vancouver brothers William and Cole Neer, ages 10 and 11, and Lee Iseli, 4, of Portland. Dodd has waived his appeal rights, saying he deserves to die for his crimes.

In addition to Jewell Cornell, Clair Neer, father of the Neer boys, has expressed his desire to attend the execution, according to Curtis.

If Lee and Curtis end up going to court, they'll probably cite the state's voter-approved 1989 constitutional amendment giving crime victims the right to attend all court proceedings the defendant attends - including the sentencing.

The state's decision to exclude the families, observed Curtis, "is just another example of the system leaving the victims out in the cold, which is what the state is trying to eliminate with this amendment."

Mix, the Corrections Department's lawyer, contends the amendment doesn't go so far as to give family of victims the right to be present at executions.

The department has strong authority to control access to its institutions, Mix noted, and doesn't normally allow relatives of victims to observe other forms of punishment.

She also said the department would abide by a Superior Court order, if one is issued, to open up the execution to other witnesses, subject to space limitations.