Inmate Makes A Last Bid To Clear His Name

For eight years, Paul Ross Ingram has been imprisoned for the ritual sexual abuse of his daughters. And for eight years, he has claimed his innocence.

Recanting a confession of molestation, rape and satanic worship, the former Thurston County deputy sheriff says he was brainwashed and coerced to admit to crimes that never happened. Still, Ingram remains in prison, his appeals rejected by court after higher court.

His last hope rests with five ordinary people and a lame-duck governor. Tomorrow, the Pardons and Clemency Board will meet in Olympia to consider Ingram's case.

The case, which prompted a book and a TV movie, has come to symbolize the debate over the legitimacy of "repressed memories," described as recollections - often of abuse - so excruciating that for years the mind refuses to acknowledge them. Critics argue that repressed memories are most often false memories, suggested by a misguided therapist or overzealous police investigators.

"I'm not guilty . . . any evidence (police) found pointed to my innocence," said Ingram from his cell in a New England prison, where he was moved for his own safety. "Anybody who takes a close look at this case can see that nothing ever occurred."

Man he accused now defends him

In East Olympia, where Paul Ingram lived with his wife and four children, he had a reputation as a devout Christian and upstanding citizen. That changed in the fall of 1988, when his two grown daughters accused him of sexual abuse.

Ingram initially denied the allegations. But over days and then weeks of intense questioning by police and his pastor, Ingram began to recall abusing his daughters as part of gruesome satanic rituals held in his house and back yard. His daughters then began to remember even more violent abuse, including the sacrifice of babies.

Confessing increasingly fantastic memories, Ingram implicated a number of others - including mechanic Ray Risch and former sheriff's department colleague Jim Rabie. Risch and Rabie were arrested, but eventually charges against both men were dropped.

Rabie plans to testify at Ingram's clemency hearing. Although he no longer considers himself a friend, Rabie said he cannot bear "silent witness to an injustice."

"The whole case was a complete farce . . . they turned over every clod of earth, dug up the ground where we supposedly buried babies, examined the girls for the scars, but never found any evidence because there was never any crime committed," said Rabie. "Paul's no friend, but he doesn't deserve to spend another minute in jail for something he didn't do, that didn't happen."

Ingram will not be at the hearing.

Experts on both sides to appear

The Clemency Board has made it clear that it does not intend for this hearing to become a referendum on repressed-memory syndrome, and that any discussion must be narrowly focused on Ingram's case.

Two noted psychologists, with expertise in recovered memories, are prepared to do just that.

One is Elizabeth Loftus of the University of Washington, who contends that transcripts of police interviews show officers lied to and threatened Ingram and his children, setting them up to manufacture memories of abuse.

"It's outrageous what they did to the family," said Loftus, who plans to read from a transcript of Ingram's interrogation. "They extracted through coercion from the Ingram kids beliefs, fantasies and pseudo-memories and presented them to Paul as if they were fact. He bought into this repression thing and confessed."

Also scheduled to testify is Richard Ofshe, a social psychologist from the University of California at Berkeley and an authority on cults and mind control. Originally hired by the Thurston County prosecutor's office to evaluate Ingram, Ofshe came to the conclusion in 1988 that something was very wrong.

"Ingram wasn't confessing, he was describing delusions, make-believe memories . . . and it was fairly obvious coercive and manipulative techniques were repeatedly used to create these false recollections," Ofshe said in an interview this week.

"And so what I will tell the Clemency Board is that the entire case was a rat's nest, a snake pit, a massive mistake . . . and that I was completely candid with the (prosecutor) at the time and that a gross injustice has been done."

Laura Deck - who in a landmark case sued her therapist for manufacturing "memories" of ritual sexual abuse and settled for an undisclosed sum - has also agreed to testify on Ingram's behalf.

"I'm exactly like (Paul), but I'm not in jail," she said. "We let people we loved convince us to give up our sense of reality . . . The amount of suffering caused for us is endless."

Board can only advise Lowry

The five-member Clemency Board reviews only about one-quarter of the petitions filed with it, said Anita Peterson, board chairwoman.

Peterson is the one who decides which cases will be heard. She agreed to consider Ingram's plea because "This is a kind of situation where the community at large could get issues out that weren't addressed in the court process."

Ingram was never tried. In 1989 he pleaded guilty to six counts of rape and shortly thereafter was sentenced to 20 years in prison, with credit given for the 494 days he had already spent in jail.

"He deserves a trial, at very least," said Daniel Brailey, founder of the Ingram Organization, a loose group of people raising money for Ingram's defense and pushing for his release. "My hope is that Paul will be let free, but short of that we want a fair hearing."

Thurston County Deputy Prosecutor Gary Tabor contends Ingram has already had his day in court, claims of coercion and brainwashing notwithstanding.

"This matter was handled through the court system and the allegations of brainwashing were considered by the courts and found not sufficiently credible to affect the guilty plea Mr. Ingram entered," said Tabor, who will be at tomorrow's hearing.

"It would be totally inappropriate for this body to jump in and make this factual decision."

Ingram's attorney, and Ingram himself, say they just want the chance to take his case to a jury. But that's unlikely. The Clemency Board cannot reopen Ingram's case to prosecution; rather it may only recommend to the governor that Ingram be pardoned or his sentenced reduced. And the final decision is Mike Lowry's.

Still, the Clemency Board represents Ingram's last chance.

"We feel Ingram did not do the crimes he's been in prison for," said Hugh McGavick, Ingram's attorney. "I'm firmly convinced justice has not been done in this situation. This gives one final look to try and make this wrong a right."