Man pleads not guilty in deaths of four members of Kirkland family

The man accused of stabbing to death a family of four and then burning their Kirkland home to hide the crime pleaded not guilty Monday to four charges of aggravated first-degree murder and one count of arson.

At the hearing, Conner Schierman's defense attorney requested a five-month extension to the 30-day window during which King County Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng must decide whether to seek the death penalty for Schierman, 24, who is being held in lieu of $10 million bail.

A judge could decide as early as today whether to extend the deadline.

Schierman is accused of killing Olga Milkin, 28; her sister, Lyubov Botvina, 24; and Milkin's two sons, Justin, 5, and Andrew, 3. Investigators discovered the bodies of the four, who had been stabbed or slashed to death, after a blazing fire was put out at the Milkin home July 17.

The slayings occurred about two weeks after Schierman had moved into a home across the street from the Milkins.

Police say Schierman told them he drank 2-½ bottles of vodka, blacked out and then awoke in the victims' bloody home to find the bodies of the women and children.

According to court documents, Schierman then purchased gasoline from a nearby convenience store, doused the home and set it on fire.

James Conroy, Schierman's attorney, made a motion Monday to have the charges dismissed, alleging governmental misconduct because the Kirkland Police Department last week accidentally released about 300 pages of the case file, much of it evidence and discovery documents, to a local television station.

In his motion, Conroy wrote that the release was a "concerted and protracted effort by the news media, with the obvious and purposeful assistance of the state of Washington and the Kirkland Police Department, to try the case and convict Conner Schierman in the press before he was ever able to enter his initial plea."

In his response, Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Scott O'Toole said that KING-TV, which obtained the documents through a public-information request, removed from its Web site the story and related photographs that referred to the documents and agreed not to run any more stories based on the material in the discovery.

He also said much of the information mentioned in the media was properly released in public documents days before KING-TV obtained the discovery evidence.

Today or Wednesday, according to the attorneys, a judge will consider both the death-penalty issue and the request to dismiss the charges.

Besides death, the only sentence possible for aggravated first-degree murder is life in prison without parole.

Maleng said last week that he would look, among other things, for "so-called mitigating factors within the life of the defendant" as well as possible motives when deciding whether to seek capital punishment.

Another factor likely to be taken into account is something called proportionality, said Janet Ainsworth, a Seattle University law professor who teaches criminal procedure.

This is the comparison of the current crime to other cases in which prosecutors have, or have not, pursued the death penalty.

In King County, the leading litmus test in recent years has been the case of Green River killer Gary L. Ridgway. Prosecutors first sought death in that case, but they eventually agreed to give up capital punishment in exchange for Ridgway's cooperation in closing unsolved slayings. Ridgway pleaded guilty to 48 counts of aggravated first-degree murder in 2003.

Since then, lawyers around the state have argued that it's fundamentally unfair for prosecutors to attempt to seek the death penalty against their clients when such a prolific killer as Ridgway was spared.

"Some of these types of cases have become more politicized" in response to the Ridgway outcome, Ainsworth said. "The Ridgway case was a deeply troubling one, because of the magnitude of the crime. Most other crimes, no matter how horrific, are not going to approach the magnitude simply because of the number of victims."

Conroy said he wants extra time in order to prepare a mitigation packet that would lay out his arguments against capital punishment. He said Monday that he will argue proportionality.

"It should be harder to pursue a case because of Ridgway. That's what we hope will save the day," he said.

Schierman's social and family history also could be factors, Conroy said.

After Monday's hearing, Milkin's husband, Army Sgt. Leonid Milkin, expressed his sorrow and outrage at the crime, which he called a "monstrous act."

Schierman's family and friends also attended the hearing. They have declined to speak publicly.

Natalie Singer: 206-464-2704 or nsinger@seattletimes.com