Prosecutors want review of Ridgway-case funding

King County prosecutors, alarmed at a request by Gary L. Ridgway's defense team for an additional $1.9 million, will seek a review of how the court and county are handling funding in the aggravated-murder case.

Calling the defense team's request excessive, Dan Satterberg, chief of staff to Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng, said a special master appointed to advise the court is providing the county with some misinformation and suggesting county officials have no authority to review the request for additional money.

"Our position is that the process that's been set in motion needs reviewing," Satterberg said.

The request before the Metropolitan King County Council would add four attorneys to Ridgway's defense team, bringing the total to eight. The defense also seeks additional paralegals, investigators and data analysts. In all, 23 people would be working for the defense.

Ridgway, 52, has been charged in four of the Green River serial killings.

The request would bring the total funds for his defense team to $2.69 million for 2002 alone. In April, the council approved $758,000 for Ridgway's defense, $2.2 million for the sheriff's office and $1.2 million for the prosecution.

The special master, chosen in part for his knowledge of death-penalty cases, already has determined the request for additional attorneys, investigators and support staff is justified. To support his decision, he prepared a report for the County Council that cites several factors, including the seriousness of the case, the fact the prosecutor seeks the death penalty, and the likelihood any convictions would be overturned on appeal if the defense hadn't received adequate resources.

The council will not vote on the defense-money request for several weeks.

Elaine Kraft, spokeswoman for County Executive Ron Sims, said the county anticipated the extra expenses and set aside $2.1 million in February. If approved, the $1.9 million request would come from that money.

"We are not taking money from anywhere else," Kraft said. She said the U.S. Constitution says defendants are to receive an adequate defense. "This is required by law. It's our job."

But prosecutors say the county is shirking its responsibility to carefully review money requests.

"Even O.J. Simpson only had five lawyers, and he paid for them out of his own money," Satterberg said.

Defense attorneys point out Simpson was not facing the death penalty and that it's none of the prosecutors' business how much money is spent on Ridgway's defense.

"It is a judicial function to determine the appropriate resources in a case," said Mark Prothero, one of the attorneys already appointed to represent Ridgway. "It's the special master's role to determine what is necessary and reasonable. The prosecutor has no standing to complain."

The county Office of Public Defense sought the appointment of a special master in April because of the extraordinary nature of the case. Special masters are seldom used in criminal cases, but one was used in the Simpson trial, Prothero said.

Ridgway was charged after a 20-year-old DNA sample linked him to the deaths of three women believed among the Green River killer's 49 suspected victims. Police say circumstantial evidence links him to a fourth victim.

Already there are more than 1 million documents relating to the case.

The identity of the special master was ordered sealed by Superior Court Judge Richard Jones, who is handling the Ridgway case. Jones cited the sensitive and potentially inflammatory nature of the case as reasons not to disclose the name of the special master.

Another reason was to reduce any party from exerting undue influence on the master.

A recent court hearing at which the special master presented the defense request for additional funds was closed to the public.

Satterberg said that because the special master's work is secret, the prosecutor has no opportunity to address those issues.

He said some of the information the special master used to justify the additional $1.9 million was inaccurate. For example, the report to the council said two defense attorneys typically are appointed for each aggravated-murder charge. In fact, Satterberg said, two attorneys usually are appointed in each aggravated-murder case.

Three attorneys were assigned to the defense of Kevin Cruz, convicted earlier this year of three counts of aggravated murder in 1999 at Seattle's Northlake Shipyard. Timothy Blackwell, who shot and killed his mail-order bride and two others in the King County Courthouse in 1995, had two lawyers. Prosecutors sought the death penalty in those cases.

Tim Ford, a Seattle attorney who is a national expert in death-penalty defense, said the Ridgway case demands special resources because of the potential for 45 other killings to be involved. Although Ridgway is charged in only four murders, Ford said the defense needs an opportunity to review the sheriff's investigation of all the deaths attributed to the Green River killer.

"If (Ridgway) didn't do the others, who did do it? And if someone else did the others, how do you know that person didn't do these? You can't fairly characterize this as a four-victim case," Ford said.

Lynn Thompson can be reached at 206-464-2922 or lthompson@seattletimes.com