A former Arlington businessman who was convicted in July of trying to have his ex-wife and her family killed won a small victory Thursday in Snohomish County Superior Court.
A jury acquitted Mitchell Lee Varnell, 43, of residential burglary after someone broke into an Arlington home in the middle of the night on Dec. 1, 2001, and left threatening and obscene messages throughout the house.
Nonetheless, Varnell faces a prison term of 75 to 100 years for his July conviction of five counts of solicitation to commit first-degree murder.
A burglary conviction probably would have added only one or two years to that term, deputy prosecutor John Stansell said. The case went forward partly because the prosecutor wanted Varnell to take responsibility for the burglary, and the victims wanted justice.
The burglary happened during a financial dispute between Varnell and the victims over work he was doing for them while preparing land for new homes. Varnell, who ran an excavating business, figured he was owed about $120,000 more than the victims were willing to pay.
Varnell’s ex-wife identified the writing in the victim’s house as that of Varnell, according to testimony.
When the verdict was read, Varnell clapped three times and said "thank you" to the jurors.
After the trial, jurors said they believed Varnell participated in the burglary, but the state failed to prove it. They wanted a handwriting expert to testify.
However, according to court papers, that might not have added a lot to the state’s case.
The state had experts examine the writing and compared it to samples of Varnell’s penmanship. An examiner concluded that Varnell probably was the author of the threatening messages, although the forensics expert could not say that conclusively, court papers say.
The writing had "evidence of heavy disguise," although there are similarities to Varnell’s handwriting.
Varnell brought in an alibi witness who told the jury the defendant stayed the full night at his home near Bothell. After the trial, jurors said they didn’t believe the alibi.
Meanwhile, Varnell still hasn’t been sentenced five months after his conviction on the murder solicitation charges. He remains in the Snohomish County Jail.
Following his conviction, Varnell fired his attorneys and got a public defender to represent him. He later fired the public defender and hired private counsel. He has made a motion for a new trial, and a hearing is set for Jan. 29.
In early 2002, Varnell owed his ex-wife about $200,000, and he was disgruntled that she had gotten custody of their two children after a bitter divorce.
He was convicted of asking an undercover sheriff’s deputy who posed as a hit man to kill the ex-wife, her parents and her brother, all of whom would have gotten custody of his children before him. He also was convicted of asking his secretary to kill his ex-wife.
Jurors in July heard a taped discussion between Varnell and the undercover deputy in which Varnell admitted entering the burglary victims’ home. On the witness stand, he claimed he still loved his ex-wife and was merely setting up a situation so he could step in and play the hero. He wanted to earn back her affections, he testified.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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