By Jim Haley
Herald Writer
The defense team for a Mountlake Terrace man accused of murdering his mail-order bride went on the offense Wednesday, trying to convince a Snohomish County Superior Court jury that someone else was responsible for her death.
All fingers were pointed at Daniel K. Larson, 21, a tenant in the home of Indle Gifford King Jr.
Larson has admitted participation in the strangulation death of Anastasia King, 20, but he claims his former landlord helped him kill her on Sept. 22, 2000.
Jurors heard a parade of jail custodial officers talk about two incidents last year when multiple officers had trouble subduing an unruly Larson. The testimony was aimed at showing jurors that Larson not only can be violent but is strong.
Jurors also heard from current or former jail inmates, one who suggested that Larson told him he had committed the crime alone. A prosecution witness said King had him write a statement that it was Larson alone who killed Anastasia King.
Indle King has been on trial more than a month for first-degree murder and witness tampering for allegedly killing his wife of 2 1/2 years the day the pair returned from a trip to visit her parents in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in the former Soviet Union.
She met Indle King through a foreign matchmaking service after her name appeared in a catalog of young women eligible for marriage. The marriage had been going sour, and Indle King had accused his wife of seeing other men.
There’s also been testimony that he was irritated with the results of a previous ill-fated mail-order bride marriage, when divorce drained his finances.
He is accused of enlisting Larson to strangle his wife while the 270-pound King sat on her. Larson struck a deal with the prosecutor, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and agreed to testify against his former landlord.
Larson said the two men buried Anastasia King in a shallow grave off 27th Avenue NE near Marysville.
But the defense has maintained that it was Larson, a registered sex offender, who alone killed Anastasia out of fear that he would be evicted from his room in the King household.
The question of whether Larson alone would be able to subdue the woman and dispose of her body by himself has been raised by the prosecution. That’s why the custodial officers, one of whom was bit by Larson, told jurors how he squirmed and battled them during the two jail altercations last year.
Officer Guy Johnson told the jury he and another officer had trouble subduing Larson last March after the prisoner complained about his food and confronted officers.
"He was strong, resisting and squirming away from us," Johnson said to questions by defense lawyer Case Stamm.
In a different situation, deputy prosecutor Coleen St. Clair asked Johnson that if he were to take Larson on, one on one, "would you kick his butt?"
"I would certainly hope so," said Johnson, who is 5 feet 10 and weighs about 210 pounds.
Another officer, Steve Van Ry, told jurors about a July incident in which "inmate Larson was struggling. He was resisting heavily."
Van Ry talked about different levels of holds and pressure points to subdue unruly prisoners, and how one backfired when his hand got too close to Larson’s mouth. Larson bit a finger hard and wouldn’t let go. Van Ry eventually lost a fingernail.
"At the time, I had no other choice. I bit him back," the custodial officer testified. He described the feeling like "someone slamming a car door on your finger and nobody opening it."
He also testified that when there are confrontations in the jail, inmates typically "fight like crazy."
You can call Herald Writer Jim Haley at 425-339-3447
or send e-mail to haley@heraldnet.com.
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