Who speaks for the murder victim when there’s no family left to tell their story? That's a question the Washington state legislature is considering.
A bill in the legislature, Senate Bill 6099, would make it possible for law enforcement officers to be appointed to speak on behalf of deceased victims.
The impetus is a 38 year old murder case and a Washington Supreme Court ruling that came down in 2010.
Cold Case
In 1978, 80-year-old Arlene Roberts was strangled with a blouse and a hairnet in her trailer home in south Seattle. The case was cold until it was finally solved 5 years ago.
Under a plea agreement, the man arrested for the murder, Ronald Wayne MacDonald, was told he’d walk free if he pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
But, Detective Scott Tompkins, with the King County Sheriff’s Office, said he felt compelled to speak up in court because Roberts had no living relatives who might speak on her behalf.
“At sentencing, the judge would not have known anything about who she was as a person, who she was in life and those kind of things. It was all very sterile and that was one of the reasons I wanted to provide some context,” Tompkins told a legislative committee.
Judge Ignores Plea Deal, Sends Man To Prison
Detective Tompkins urged the judge to impose the maximum sentence of five years in prison for MacDonald and the judge did.
But, the conviction was overturned in 2010 by the Washington Supreme Court, which ruled that MacDonald’s right to due process had been violated because the detective spoke during the sentencing phase.
Bill Would Let Detectives Speak For Victims
Washington Senate Bill 6099, sponsored by Sen. Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley, states that a prosecuting attorney would be permitted to appoint a law enforcement officer to speak on behalf of a murder victim if the deceased has no estate or surviving family.
Washington law has long allowed relatives of crime victims to make a statement at sentencing or in any proceeding where the defendant’s release is being considered.
