Issues raised over sentencing
By the time Richard Clark abducted, raped and killed a friend's 7-year-old daughter in March 1995, Gary L. Ridgway had already slain 48 women in the South Puget Sound area.
Both men gained widespread media attention and notoriety for their crimes. Ridgway was dubbed the Green River killer, and Clark was vilified for the murder of Roxanne Doll. Prosecutors sought the death penalty against both men.
Only Clark was condemned to die.
But in June 2001, when the state Supreme Court overturned Clark's death sentence, the Everett man was handed a second chance at life in prison. Clark, 36, was later surprised to learn that although King County prosecutors had allowed Ridgway to sign a plea agreement that spared his life, Snohomish County prosecutor Janice Ellis was still pursuing the death penalty in his case.
Clark is the first defendant for whom Snohomish County prosecutors have sought the death penalty since Ridgway pleaded guilty a year ago to the Green River slayings. When King County prosecutor Norm Maleng signed the agreement, legal experts and advocates for victims' rights wondered whether the agreement would make it impossible for the state high court to uphold the death penalty during mandatory reviews of each capital-punishment case.
University of Washington criminal-law professor John Junker said it's likely Supreme Court justices will compare Ridgway to the death-penalty cases they are required to review. He said "it doesn't seem particularly democratic" if the court forgoes upholding capital-punishment convictions because of Ridgway.
But he agreed "it's a hard decision for a court to make," Junker said.
Clark's defense attorney, Jeffrey Ellis, who is not related to Janice Ellis, said it's likely jurors will also have Ridgway in mind when they are asked to send Clark back to death row.
"The vast majority of those jurors are going to know about the Ridgway case," Jeffrey Ellis said. "It is perhaps not something presented directly to jurors, but I think any juror would raise the question of fairness.
"My client is aware Mr. Ridgway is serving a life sentence and he [Clark] is facing death," said Jeffrey Ellis. "He has asked me to explain to him how that can be fair, and I can't."
But Roxanne's mother, Gail Doll, believes she has a simple explanation: "Ridgway didn't kill a 7-year-old girl.
"He didn't go into people's homes and destroy people's trust," Doll said yesterday. "His victims were off the street and victims of opportunity."
Clark's case is the first in which Janice Ellis has pursued the death penalty since she was elected prosecutor two years ago.
"Richard Clark's culpability for Roxanne Doll's rape and murder is not diminished by Gary Ridgway's plea deal in the Green River case," Janice Ellis said in a written statement.
Clark was 26 when he abducted Roxanne from her Everett bedroom. The second-grader's body was found about a week later in North Everett. Clark was convicted of aggravated first-degree murder, first-degree rape and first-degree kidnapping, and sentenced to death in 1997.
But four years later, the state Supreme Court ruled the jury had been prejudiced because prosecutors told them Clark had previously been convicted of locking a 4-year-old girl in his grandfather's garage. The child, whose hands were bound with a sock, was later rescued.
The court ordered that Clark be resentenced. His conviction still stands.
Jurors selected for Clark's retrial in May will have only two choices: return Clark to death row or sentence him to life in prison without parole.
Gail Doll said she supports prosecutors as they seek Clark's death sentence. But said she would prefer Clark be sentenced to life in prison without parole so he would have to live among other violent felons.
"I still want him to die," said Doll, who lives in Everett. "If he was in general population, he would probably be dead by now because he would be totally exposed to the other prisoners, who don't take killing a child lightly."
Doll, 38, said her ex-husband, Tim Iffrig, was an acquaintance of Clark's. On the night of the slaying, Clark had been drinking with Iffrig at a neighbor's house. That evening, while Doll was at the movies and Iffrig was asleep on the couch, Clark abducted Roxanne from the top bunk bed where she slept. Her 5-year-old sister was asleep in the bottom bunk, Doll said.
Clark returned to the Doll-Iffrig residence after the slaying and resumed drinking, Doll said.
Doll, a home-health-care aide, said she and Iffrig have been divorced for four years.
"It's been a struggle," Doll said. "Just when you think you have closure, some jerk lawyer files an appeal. It's cruel and unusual punishment for my family."
Jennifer Sullivan: 425-783-0604 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com
