PULLMAN — Six years ago, Rich Morrow was traumatized to learn his 21-year-old daughter Stacy was killed in a horrific auto accident. The agony became worse when the man charged with causing the crash, which also killed two others, skipped bail and disappeared.
On Monday, trial finally begins for Frederick Russell, and Morrow plans to be there. The trial became possible when Russell was located in Ireland and extradited to the United States last year.
“It’s a huge relief,” said Morrow, of West Seattle. “When I got my subpoena to appear, I sat there and looked at it. It was not just a subpoena, but a sign that we finally made it. We are finally going to have this trial.”
Russell, 29, is charged with three counts of vehicular homicide and three counts of vehicular assault, and court papers say he was drunk and speeding when he caused an accident that killed three Washington State University students and injured three others on June 4, 2001.
He faces 10 to 14 years in prison if convicted.
Stacy’s body was so damaged that her family had her cremated, Rich Morrow said
“The day I had to stand in the Kimball Funeral Home in Pullman, and they handed my daughter to me in a box … that undid me,” Morrow said.
Russell’s trial begins Monday in Kelso. It was moved from Colfax because the judge feared years of publicity would make it difficult to seat an impartial jury.
Defense attorney Francisco Duarte of Bellevue declined to reveal if Russell will testify. But the defense plans to challenge the competence of the crash investigation and the conclusion that Russell caused the accident.
“We believe the government failed to properly investigate this case,” Duarte said.
The defense will also argue that a blood test showing Russell was drunk was flawed, and cannot be independently verified because it was accidentally destroyed in 2004, while Russell was in hiding.
The state Attorney General’s office is prosecuting the case because of a conflict of interest in the Whitman County prosecutor’s office.
According to police reports, Russell and a friend were drinking in a Pullman bar when they got into Russell’s Chevy Blazer and drove toward Moscow, Idaho, eight miles east on the busy two-lane road that connects the two college towns.
Russell came upon a slower vehicle and, even though he was in a no-passing zone, tried to pass at 90 mph, police said. Police believe that Russell’s vehicle struck a car heading in the opposite direction, then plowed into a Cadillac carrying seven Washington State University students back from a movie in Moscow.
The crash killed Morrow; Brandon Clements, 22, of Toppenish; and Ryan Sorensen, 21, of Westport.
John Wagner of Harrington; Kara Eichelsdoerfer of Central Park; and Sameer Ranade of Kennewick were injured.
Russell had only minor injuries.
He was taken to an Idaho hospital, where his blood-alcohol level was measured at 0.12, well above the legal limit of .08, according to court records.
Russell was charged with vehicular homicide and assault, and released on a relatively low bond of $5,000 that outraged victims and families.
Russell failed to show up for a hearing on Oct. 26, 2001. According to police, he sold some baseball cards, gathered other assets, and fled.
Shortly after he jumped bail, several newspapers received a letter allegedly signed by the fugitive. It read in part: “I left because I had no choice. Since the first day after the tragic accident, horrible things have been printed about me. Now people are so enraged that they would rather see me dead than receive a fair trial. I maintain my innocence. But my life has been repeatedly threatened, so I cannot stay.”
Bernadette Olson, a family friend who was a WSU graduate student in criminal justice, later admitted that she drove Russell to Calgary International Airport in Alberta, and intentionally misled investigators about his whereabouts. She was sentenced to six months in federal prison.
Greg Russell, the defendant’s father and then the dean of WSU’s criminal justice department, told authorities that he posted his son’s bail, but had no idea he planned to flee. Shortly afterward, Greg Russell resigned from WSU and took a job in Arkansas.
With his red hair, pale skin and fake Irish accent, Fred Russell blended into the underground economy of Dublin, Ireland, U.S. Marshal Mike Kline said. He had a girlfriend and worked for years as a security guard at “Extrovert Boutique,” a lingerie store, Kline said. Russell also sported an Irish Cross tattoo on his arm and a shamrock tattoo on his back.
In 2005, the U.S. Marshals Service placed Fred Russell on their Most Wanted list, the only drunken-driving suspect to make the Web site.
A man in Ireland saw the picture and called authorities. Four years to the day after becoming a fugitive, Russell was taken into custody by the Irish National Police.
Irish law makes extraditions difficult — Irish courts had turned down the previous 19 extradition requests from the United States — and the arrest triggered months of court fights.
On Oct. 12, 2006, Ireland’s second-highest court turned down Russell’s last appeal and he was handed over to U.S. authorities.
Morrow is upset at all the legal machinations that Russell has put the families through.
“I am disappointed this young man has not stood up and said, ‘Enough’s enough’ and put himself at the mercy of the court,” Morrow said.
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