By Scott North
Herald Writer
Lawyers for a Mountlake Terrace man charged with murdering his mail-order bride want a Snohomish County judge to make sure a jury never hears some of what he allegedly told police.
Indle Gifford King Jr., 40, repeatedly lied about when he last saw his wife, and when told in December 2000 that her body was found in a shallow grave, he collapsed into tears and asked a police officer to shoot him, Judge George Bowden was told during hearings this week.
King’s attorneys Tuesday urged Bowden to suppress statements King purportedly made to police between October and December 2000. Some statements, like the request to be shot, would be more prejudicial against King than helpful to jurors, attorneys David Allen and Cassandra Stamm argued.
They also said other statements and evidence should be barred from trial because police allegedly ignored King’s rights when they entered his home without benefit of a warrant on Oct. 3, 2000, as the investigation was just beginning.
"This is as bad as it gets in terms of constitutional violations — going into someone’s house without a warrant," Stamm said.
But police had a valid reason for entering the King home, countered Jim Townsend, the county’s chief criminal deputy prosecutor. At the time, the police were looking for his missing wife, Anastasia King, 20. They found the front door unlocked at the King home and a back sliding door ajar. Nobody inside responded to repeated knocking, the prosecutor said.
Police "had no idea whether Anastasia King was dead or alive," Townsend said.
Bowden said he’ll rule by Dec. 14 what statements will be allowed at trial.
King is scheduled to go on trail Jan. 7, charged with witness tampering and first-degree murder. His wife, a University of Washington student, disappeared in September 2000 after returning to Mountlake Terrace from a visit to her parents’ home in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in the former Soviet Union. Her body was found three months later.
King has pleaded innocent. In court papers, his attorneys have argued the killing was the sole handiwork of Daniel Kristopher Larson, 20, a convicted sex offender who rented a room at the King home.
Larson already has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder after admitting he strangled Anastasia King with a necktie. But Larson insists Indle King coerced him and pinned the young woman to the ground while she was strangled.
Lawyers told Bowden to expect more argument on a range of issues, including whether jurors should see photographs of Anastasia King, before her death, and after her body was found.
You can call Herald Writer Scott North at 425-339-3431
or send e-mail to north@heraldnet.com.
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