Green: `I ... Expected ... Life In Prison'

EVERETT - Michael Kay Green maintains his innocence in the slaying of a 12-year-old Clearview girl, but hours after being convicted of aggravated first-degree murder yesterday, he didn't even have the energy to be outraged.

Green said he is resigned to a lifetime in prison and is not optimistic about his appeal. In an interview at the Snohomish County Jail, Green acknowledged his claims of innocence may "sound kind of hollow."

"I fully intended, expected, planned on spending the rest of my life in prison," he said.

Jurors deliberated about nine hours before finding Green guilty of kidnapping Brenda Gere from her home in September 1985 and taking her to a remote site on the Tulalip Reservation, where he killed her. Jurors could not agree on whether Green raped her before killing her, as prosecutors contended.

Judge Gerald Knight immediately gave Green the only possible prison sentence - life in prison without possibility of parole.

Green, 39, said he didn't blame Brenda's mother, Elaine Gere, for an impassioned speech she gave before his sentencing. "It was a very personal attack, but I put myself in her place. She believes I'm the person who killed her daughter."

Looking directly at Green, Gere told him: "I hope you rot in hell . . . I wish I could throw you on the side of the road like you did her, like the piece of garbage that you are."

A former neighbor of the Geres said family and friends gathered outside the prosecutor's office when they learned a verdict had been reached and prayed that it would be the right one.

"I'm so glad the jury saw him for the monster he is," Elaine Gere said. "I feel Brenda can finally rest in peace."

Fourteen-year-old Mike Gere, who was 6 when his sister was killed, said the verdict helped him come to grips with the murder: "Now he can't hurt anybody else. I feel better knowing he's gone."

After Green was led away, there was an air of celebration in the hallway outside the courtroom, where Brenda's family and friends, prosecutors and jurors gathered to talk and exchange hugs.

Jurors said the two-week trial took a toll. "Each day it got harder and harder to come back," said Anne Stearns of Everett.

The jury took a number of votes before reaching a verdict, but it was clear from the beginning most were leaning toward the charge of aggravated murder rather than one of the lesser alternatives.

Jury foreman Chuck Frye of Everett said the jury was convinced Green raped Brenda but didn't feel there was enough physical evidence to support the charge.

"We all felt a lot of pressure. I haven't been sleeping well. A lot of the jurors were the same way. We were dealing with a man's life, and we felt the pressure," he said.

The former University of Washington football player showed no emotion when the verdict was read. He appeared calm and thoughtful later, saying he has been preparing himself for what he believed was an inevitable conviction and was at peace with it.

But he said he hasn't always been that way. "I've shed my share of tears in the last couple of years. I just don't know if I've got any left. Believe me, I'm a pretty emotional person. Now is not the time for that."

He wanted to testify in his own defense but changed his mind after his attorney, Anthony Savage, refused to call "supporting witnesses." The attorney indicated that he felt such witnesses would not add to the case.

Green said he was concerned Deputy Prosecutor Michael Magee would bring up Green's far-reaching conspiracy theory involving most criminal-justice authorities in the county. He said he needed those "supporting witnesses" under such questioning.

"If you can't call people involved in the case . . . what are you going to do?" Green asked. "I felt (Savage) pulled the rug out from under me."

He said he will continue to pursue his theory even from prison. "I'd like to feel that someday, if I'm persistent, the truth will come out," he said. "It's gonna be an endurance contest. I'm steeling myself for that."

Deputy Prosecutor Michael Magee said it was a minor disappointment the jury could not reach a conclusion on the rape allegation.

During closing arguments, Magee called Green "the bogyman" who snatched Brenda from her home and brutalized her. As Green was being escorted from the courtroom yesterday, someone in the crowd said, "Goodbye, Bogyman."

-- Times Snohomish County bureau reporter Alex Tizon contributed to this report.