Jury quickly convicts killer

It took a Snohomish County Superior Court jury just 50 minutes Tuesday to elect a presiding juror, eat lunch and vote unanimously to convict a former Mountlake Terrace man of first-degree murder.

Daniel Kristopher Larson, 26, will be sentenced Feb. 14 in the 2000 strangulation death of mail-order-bride Anastasia King.

In Larson’s own words, the jury heard how he followed the directions of the 20-year-old victim’s husband, Indle King Jr. Larson wrapped a necktie around Anastasia King’s neck and twisted it until she stopped breathing.

The jury listened to three audio recordings and one KIRO-TV video recording of Larson’s confessions. It also listened to two transcripts that were read, one a lawyers’ interview and the second the defendant’s lengthy description of events when he testified against King in 2002.

King was convicted and sentenced to 29 years.

The quick verdict followed a one-week trial. This conviction will result in a longer prison term for Larson.

This is the second time he’s come to court for the killing.

Larson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Anastasia King’s death in 2002. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors were able to bring Larson back to court and try him for the more severe first-degree murder charge because Larson violated terms of the plea agreement when he tried to have his 2002 conviction thrown out.

Tuesday’s conviction means he now faces a term of between 26 and nearly 35 years behind bars, deputy prosecutor Janice Albert said.

Prosecutors alleged that King and Larson acted together to kill Anastasia King, a native of Kyrgyzstan in the former Soviet Union. She married Indle King Jr. with the hope of living a better life in the United States. They met through an international marriage brokerage agency.

In closing arguments, Albert told the jury to think about the “four, long, intentional, premeditated minutes” that it must have taken to strangle the life out of Anastasia King. She also asked jurors to pay attention to the recordings and transcripts.

“I couldn’t have done a better job of that than what Larson has already told you,” Albert told the jurors.

Larson had many opportunities to back out of the plot, Albert said.

Everett defense attorney Karen Halverson said the death was a tragedy, and Anastasia King certainly didn’t deserve to die.

“She was a beautiful and vibrant young woman,” Halverson said.

She said the evidence showed Larson, who rented a room in the King home, was under Indle King Jr.’s control. The prosecution alleged that Larson, a registered sex offender, was afraid of losing a place to live.

In his statements, Larson also said he was afraid of Indle King Jr., who owned guns.

“Daniel had no reason to want Anastasia dead,” Halverson said. “It was not his design. He did what he was told.”

On Tuesday, Anastasia King’s mother remarked about the KIRO-TV jailhouse interview with Larson. In it, he quoted Bible passages that he said excused his part in the killing because he alleged that the younger woman had been unfaithful to Indle King Jr.

Larson also said he intended to use those passages in his legal defense.

Speaking through an interpreter, Alla Solovieva said that “the verdict of the jury was God’s answer” for Larson’s actions. “For myself, personally, this is an answer from God.”

She said it was hard to sit through the trial, hearing details about her daughter’s death, but she’s happy with the verdict.

“In a spiritual sense, God didn’t forget Anastasia,” Solovieva said.

Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.