Judge hinting at trouble in trial

By Scott North

Herald Writer

Daniel Kristopher Larson has for months made no secret of his involvement in the September 2000 killing of a mail-order bride in Mountlake Terrace.

Court records show he told police about helping to strangle Anastasia King. He repeated the story to prosecutors. He even went on camera and told a television reporter.

But there are now questions whether a jury will be told of those alleged confessions.

Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Gerald Knight on Wednesday told lawyers on both sides of Larson’s first-degree murder case that he wants to know what would happen if he rules some key statements Larson made early in the case were improperly obtained and shouldn’t be allowed at trial.

"I’m not saying I am" going to rule the statements off-limits, Knight emphasized. But he also told lawyers to be prepared at an Oct. 11 hearing to discuss "where does the fruit of the poisonous tree take us?"

At issue is a Dec. 28 jailhouse interview between Larson, 21, and Mountlake Terrace police detectives that proved key to the case.

At the time, Larson was locked up for attempting to force sex on a 16-year-old girl he’d met at the Alderwood Mall. He’s since been convicted of the offense.

Detectives in December were investigating the disappearance of Anastasia King, 20, who dropped from sight the day she returned from a late September 2000 visit to her native Kyrgyzstan in the former Soviet Union.

Prior to his arrest, Larson had rented a room in the Mountlake Terrace home the missing woman shared with her husband, Indle Gifford King Jr., 40, whom police suspected in his wife’s disappearance.

Detectives Julie Jamison and Donald Duncan testified Wednesday that they wanted to talk with Larson because they had learned Indle King had been repeatedly visiting him in jail.

The detectives met with Larson in a jail interview room. It wasn’t long before he asked whether he could cut a deal in his sex assault case in exchange for information about Anastasia King’s disappearance, the detectives testified.

Larson was told that only prosecutors could make a deal. He was urged to help the missing woman’s family, the detectives said.

Then, Duncan said, he acted on a hunch and asked where Anastasia King was buried.

Larson offered to show detectives. Later that day he led them to a shallow grave in an illegal garbage dumping ground near Marysville.

The body’s discovery led to Indle King’s arrest. He remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bail, awaiting an early January trial for first-degree murder.

Larson also is facing a first-degree murder charge. Prosecutors say Larson later admitted strangling Anastasia King with a necktie while her 270-pound husband pinned her to the ground, according to court papers.

Larson’s lawyers, public defenders Susan Gaer and John Stellwagen, argue that Larson’s statements to police Dec. 28 were made while he was in custody, and because of that he should have been advised of his rights prior to questioning.

The detectives said Wednesday that Larson wasn’t in their custody and was free to return to his cell at any time. He was advised of his rights before being interviewed about his involvement in the killing.

Larson’s attorneys also have moved to have the case dismissed because an autopsy failed to conclusively show how Anastasia King was killed. A mark on her throat is consistent with strangulation, but the evidence was not conclusive, according to court papers.

Prosecutors counter that sufficient evidence exists to support the charge.

Larson’s trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 2, but it likely won’t occur on schedule, Gaer said Wednesday.

You can call Herald Writer Scott North at 425-339-3431

or send e-mail to north@heraldnet.com.

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