By Scott North
Herald Writer
Daniel Larson isn’t just a confessed killer. He’s also told people he thinks he is a seer, a big screen actor and a cyborg born in Sweden, a Snohomish County jury was told Friday.
The revelations came as Larson continued to testify at the trial of Indle Gifford King Jr., 40, a Mountlake Terrace man accused of murdering his mail-order bride.
Larson, 21, is a convicted sex offender who formerly rented a room in King’s home. He spent much of two days this week as a prosecution witness, telling jurors he strangled Anastasia King, 20, in September 2000 on orders from her husband. He later led police to her shallow grave near Marysville.
Defense attorney David Allen of Seattle earlier told jurors the case against King rests on an unstable foundation — Larson. He wasted little time trying to prove that Friday.
Allen presented Larson with a series of documents that showed the young man:
"I am a government experiment," Larson told a state corrections official in April. He even recited the number of the serial number of the chip: 150407XA7.
Larson already told jurors he has a long history of trouble and spent most of his childhood locked up for a variety of mental problems and sex offenses.
It was while at a mental hospital for children that Larson claims he received electroshocks and had the computer chip implanted in his head, jurors were told. Larson testified that he has difficulty remembering, and also believes some of his memories, including acting in the Kevin Costner movie, may be the result of brainwashing by his mother.
Allen played a portion of the movie in court Friday to show that Larson does not appear in the film.
Larson has insisted he is a biblical prophet, although he said he is too humble to use that title.
Allen presented Larson with a jailhouse letter he sent Christopher Turgeon, a convicted murderer who led a cult called the Gatekeepers. Turgeon claims to be a modern manifestation of the prophet Elijah. The two met while housed in the same part of the jail last year.
"Elijah," Larson wrote. "I miss you bud!! What’s going on?"
Larson originally was charged with first-degree murder, but under an agreement with prosecutors, the charge was reduced to second-degree murder with a recommendation that he serve somewhere between 14 and 23 years in prison if he testifies truthfully. That’s decades less than he could have faced.
Allen repeatedly brought up the plea agreement while questioning Larson.
Larson said his punishment isn’t a factor.
"Myself, personally, I do not care what I get sentenced to, so long as the truth gets known," Larson said at one point.
But Allen showed jurors a letter that Larson sent prosecutors on Jan. 16, asking them if they would lop a couple of additional years off his murder sentence in exchange for pleading guilty to biting a corrections officer last year. Prosecutors did not reply to the offer.
Nor did they raise many objections to Allen’s attacks on Larson. In opening statements, deputy prosecutors called him a "freak," but also somebody who knew why and how Anastasia King was killed.
On Friday, prosecutors had Larson read a letter, purportedly written by King, that urged him to change his testimony about King being involved in Anastasia King’s murder.
In the letter, King allegedly suggested both would go free if they refused to testify at the other’s murder trial. King also allegedly told Larson he would reward his cooperation by allowing him to stay at his home for reduced rent, so long as Larson agreed to mow the lawn.
You can call Herald Writer Scott North at 425-339-3431 or send e-mail to north@heraldnet.com.
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