Defendant Gets Life In Oregon Slayings

PORTLAND - David Cook, the third defendant in a 1996 double murder on Larch Mountain, was sentenced to life in prison without parole yesterday.

A jury gave Cook, 21, the same sentence as his two friends.

The families of the slain men, Ronald Dunwoody and James Boyles, said they were glad the ordeal was over.

"The worst is over for us," said Dee Boyles, a sister. "I feel like I can go on with my life."

On Oct. 2, 1996, Cook opened fire with an assault rifle on Dunwoody and Boyles, who were target shooting. He said he was defending his friends, Kevin Gregory and Cory Lewis.

But Gregory and Lewis, who pleaded guilty to aggravated murder, testified that the three had talked of killing for the fun of it and that they had joined in the shooting.

Cook could have received the death penalty. He showed no emotion when the verdict was read.

His lawyers had called relatives to testify to his emotionally troubled childhood. His sister Katrina, 19, testified that her father had routinely beaten her mother in front of her and her brother.

The sister said that once, when her brother was 11, their parents took them to the adult book store where they worked and made the children package pornographic magazines.

Prosecutors told jurors that Cook's crimes called for the death penalty.

"I call it the merciless begging for mercy," said Deputy District Attorney Bill Williams. "How much mercy did David Cook show those two men?"