Kickboxer convicted of murder

It took less than six hours for a King County jury to convict 24-year-old kickboxer Kim Mason of aggravated first-degree murder in the death of Hartanto Santoso, even though Santoso's body has never been found.

Mason is to be sentenced next month in King County Superior Court to life in prison without the possibility of parole, an automatic sentence for aggravated murder.

Though Mason's attorney, James Womack, said his client hasn't decided to appeal, he added, "I can't imagine a circumstance where we would not appeal when this case is so replete with issues for appeal."

Although the jury came to a quick decision, several jurors said they had plenty of time to consider the evidence throughout the almost 10-week-long trial.

"It was an easy verdict," said Marc Rieck, a 49-year-old electrician.

"That's not to say we didn't take our responsibility seriously or that it wasn't very emotional," said juror Rachael Crickman, a 26-year-old nurse.

Mason was convicted of murdering Santoso, a 31-year-old nursing assistant from Indonesia, in Santoso's Kirkland apartment Feb. 19, 2001. Santoso was to testify against Mason, with whom he'd had a sexual relationship, in an assault trial and had obtained a no-contact order against him.

Prosecutors argued that Mason broke into Santoso's apartment, cut his throat and stabbed him to death, then moved his body and drove his car to the airport to make it appear as if Santoso had left the country.

Mason's blood was found mixed with Santoso's in Santoso's Mustang and a car owned by Marina Madrid, Mason's ex-girlfriend. Madrid, the prosecution's star witness who helped Mason cover up his crime, was granted immunity in exchange for her testimony.

Jurors agreed the DNA evidence was a key factor in their decision.

"It was the blood evidence in Marina's car, both cars," Crickman said.

Mason "could not have gotten Santoso's blood on his shoes if he wasn't there (at the murder scene)," said a female juror, a school secretary who asked that her name not be used.

In presenting evidence against Mason, King County senior deputy prosecutor Scott O'Toole introduced some 400 items and called roughly 70 witnesses to the stand.

"It was a phenomenally difficult case — you had no body, you had a guy (Mason) who initially had an alibi, you had a victim who was (previously) assaulted by the suspect, and the victim is from a different country," O'Toole said.

During the trial, O'Toole told the jury that three weeks before Santoso disappeared, Mason allegedly had choked him into unconsciousness, threatened to kill him and tried to force Santoso to write him a $700 check. Santoso was supposed to testify against him.

Womack, Mason's attorney, said a quarter to a half of the state's case revolved around an alleged choking incident on Jan. 23, 2001, which he says should not have been divulged to the jury.

The jury also heard evidence from King County's chief medical examiner, who issued a presumptive death certificate for Santoso, which Judge Michael Fox later excluded, Womack said.

"Unfortunately, the jury heard a lot of evidence that, in our opinion, we don't believe they should have heard," Womack said. "I believed all along that the earlier (Jan. 23) case prejudiced this case."

But the jury ruled Santoso's scheduled testimony against Mason was not an aggravating factor in the slaying.

Jurors did, however, find that Mason killed Santoso in the course of committing a burglary and that he violated a court order to stay away from Santoso.

The jury needed to affirm only one of the three factors, all of which meet the state's requirements for aggravated first-degree murder.

The latter crime is punishable only by life in prison without parole or the death penalty. Prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty because Santoso's body is missing.

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com