Serial killer sentencing starts

SEATTLE — Officially, it’s a formality: A King County Superior Court judge will sentence the Green River serial killer, Gary Ridgway, to life in prison without parole, a punishment that prosecutors and defense attorneys have already agreed to.

But to the families of the 48 women Ridgway confessed to killing over the past two decades, today will mean so much more. It’s their only chance to memorialize their daughters, sisters and girlfriends in court or to speak to the murderer directly, be it to curse him or forgive him. It’s their only chance to hear him say he’s sorry, however hollow that may ring.

"After tomorrow, I’m through with him," said Kathy Mills, whose 16-year-old daughter, Opal, was killed in August 1982. "I won’t think of him anymore. He’ll have no hold over me."

Tony Savage, one of Ridgway’s lawyers, predicted, "It’s going to be a long, dismal day."

The court has actually set aside two days for Ridgway’s sentencing, which is to begin at 8:30 a.m. today. It will be a far different scene from Nov. 5, when Ridgway pleaded guilty to 48 counts of aggravated first-degree murder in a deal to avoid the death penalty — more convictions than any other serial killer in U.S. history.

During the plea hearing, the focus was on Ridgway, as a prosecutor read his emotionless confession in court. Those who knew the victims listened as the statement explained how he killed because he hated prostitutes and didn’t want to pay them for sex; that he dumped their bodies in the Green River and other inconspicuous parts of King County; and that he killed so many women he had a hard time keeping them straight.

This time, it is about the victims. Twenty-six families have told prosecutors they plan to attend the sentencing today, and of those, 21 said they will address Judge Richard Jones. Each family will be allotted 10 minutes.

Mills, who works at New Directions Ministries in Kent, said she hoped to address the court and Ridgway directly. Asked whether she would forgive her daughter’s killer, she said: "If it’s at all possible at that time, I will. I plan to."

She has already sent the court a letter about her daughter, saying that Opal liked to draw clothes and talked about becoming a designer. The girl also hoped to marry someday.

Ridgway was arrested Nov. 30, 2001, after detectives linked his DNA to sperm found in three of the earliest victims. By spring 2002, prosecutors had charged him with seven murders, but they had all but given up hope of linking him to the dozens of other women, most of whom disappeared during a terrifying stretch from 1982-84.

Last spring, defense attorneys offered King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng a deal: If Maleng would not seek the death penalty, Ridgway would help solve those other cases. Though Maleng had previously said he would not bargain with the death penalty, he changed his mind, saying that a strong principle of justice is to know the truth.

Ridgway cooperated, eventually confessing to 48 murders — the most recent in 1998 — and leading investigators to four previously undiscovered sets of remains.

Savage said that when the families are done speaking, he expects his client to apologize.

"I’m expecting he will give a statement," Savage said. "I assume it will be one of remorse and regret that will fall on deaf ears, but he will say it."