Anderson’s defense files motion to bar life sentence

Closing arguments were scheduled today in the case of an Everett man accused of the September 2002 abduction and killing of Rachel Burkheimer.

But plans for concluding the aggravated murder trail of John Phillip Anderson, 22, could be sidelined by legal issues that surfaced late Monday.

Public defender Susan Gaer asked Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Linda Krese to bar prosecutors from seeking Anderson’s conviction for aggravated murder. If found guilty, he’d face an automatic sentence of life in prison without possibility of release.

Instead, Gaer argued the most serious charge Anderson can legally face is first-degree murder. If convicted, her client could expect decades behind bars, but not life.

Citing recent case law, Gaer argued that prosecutors failed to properly file the aggravated murder charge. Their error, she said, was in omitting from charging documents specific details about the alleged aggravating factors of the murder – in this case kidnapping and robbery.

The law requires charges to be filed in a way that every element of the alleged offenses is identifiable, Gaer said.

Deputy prosecutor Michael Downes told the judge that Gaer is wrong, but he wasn’t prepared to argue against the motion, which had been filed just a few minutes earlier.

Krese, who had expected to spend this morning hammering out jury instructions, said the case is on hold until a decision is made on Gaer’s motion.

“I really should have sent the jury away for another day,” the judge said.

Jurors have spent much of three weeks listening to testimony about how Anderson allegedly enlisted a group of young men who assisted him in abducting, beating and killing Burkheimer, 18, of Marysville.

Burkheimer was Anderson’s ex-girlfriend. Her body was found in a crude grave in the rugged hills outside Gold Bar.

Reporter Scott North: 425-339-3431 or north@heraldnet.com.

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