A decision on whether Richard Mathew Clark should live or die has been put off six months because of defense attorneys’ attempts to squelch the death penalty for the killer of Roxanne Doll.
Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wynne Friday approved the continuance of a special sentencing proceeding from September to March 14. Under the proceeding, a jury would be assembled to hear the facts of the case and the defense attorneys’ reasons why he should not be executed.
Clark’s lawyers failed in June to have the death penalty possibility dismissed when they charged that Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney Janice Ellis revealed information to the press about Clark that she shouldn’t have released.
Earlier this month, they launched a second attempt, alleging that Clark is mentally retarded and executing him would be unconstitutional.
Defense lawyers and chief criminal deputy prosecutor Mark Roe on Friday agreed to set up a schedule for all pre-trial motions and both written and oral arguments.
In addition, defense lawyer Jeff Ellis of Seattle told Wynne he intends to appeal his decision in June to let the death-penalty proceeding continue.
Clark, 36, was convicted in 1997 of rape and murder of the 7-year-old girl, whose body was found in brush on a north Everett hillside several days after she disappeared from her south Everett home.
The jury convicted him of aggravated murder, a crime that carries a minimum of life in prison without the possibility of release.
In a separate decision, the panel also determined that Clark should die for the crime.
The state Supreme Court upheld the conviction but found the sentencing proceeding was flawed because jurors heard too much information about Clark’s past crimes. In October, Janice Ellis decided she would again seek the death penalty. (Janice Ellis and Jeff Ellis are not related.)
To do that, jurors will have to hear much of the state’s case to make a decision. In addition, defense lawyers have produced a large package of information they would present to the jury in hopes of convincing the panel to be lenient and allow Clark to live and spend the rest of his life in prison.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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