SEATTLE — In January, a King County Superior Court judge ruled that the state cannot seek the death penalty against a couple accused of killing a family of six. Friday, the state Supreme Court granted a hearing after an appeal was filed by the King County Prosecutor’s Office, which wants to pursue the death penalty in the case.
The hearing has been set for May 9.
Michelle Anderson and her ex-boyfriend, Joseph McEnroe, are charged with killing Anderson’s parents, Wayne Anderson, 60, and Judith Anderson, 61; her brother, Scott, and his wife, Erica, both 32; and the couple’s two children, Olivia, 5, and Nathan, 3, inside the elder Andersons’ Carnation home on Christmas Eve 2007. Detectives said Michele Anderson told them she helped kill them because her brother owed her money and she was upset because her parents did not take her side.
7 Comments to “State Supreme Court to hear appeal for death penalty in Carnation mass murder case”
March 8, 2013 at 1:58 PM
I would have liked to hear why the judge denied the death penalty in this case. It screams death penalty to me.
March 8, 2013 at 3:54 PM
How can you possibly kill six people, two of which are children and NOT get the death penalty?
March 8, 2013 at 5:08 PM
These two idiots deserve the death penalty.
March 8, 2013 at 6:56 PM
They should get the death penalty. There reasoning isn't even valid to warrant killing an entire family, that included children. They did not deserve to die in this manner. What is wrong with the justice system?
March 9, 2013 at 12:43 PM
The family of the victums do not want them to get the death penlty. They want them to suffer in prison for the rest of there lives.
May 9, 2013 at 10:41 AM
You could not be further from the truth, me not u…
March 9, 2013 at 3:14 PM
You have to read Judge Ramsdell's logical summation and if you can make any common sense out of this jurist's ramblings, then you are way ahead of me. I have a college education but I can't figure out the logic of his reasoning in this case.
Check it out:
"King County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ramsdell announced two weeks ago that he was taking the death penalty off the table in the trials, because the prosecution had made an error in deciding to pursue the death penalty on the strength of the evidence against the accused.
The strength of the evidence, Ramsdell wrote in his decision, is not relevant at the penalty phase of the trial, because the jury has already determined guilt, and begins considering mitigating factors."
"The decision (to pursue the death penalty) relates solely to the potentially applicable punishment and the State's ability to prove the absence of sufficient mitigating circumstances beyond a reasonable doubt," Ramsdell concluded.
Now for the fun part:
According to the King County Office of Public Defense figures, as of late last month[Feb 2013] the county has spent more than $5.1 million defending McEnroe and Anderson since they were arrested. Prosecutors said last month that they’ve spent $725,000 on the case.
Conclusion:
It is a system gone amok, designed by lawyers, for lawyers to lawyers at taxpayers expense. The legal-justice system in Washington State is out of control without any checks and balances to reign in these people. They continue to prove that the "Rule of Law" is illusory, capricious and corrupted. I'm sure the Supreme Court Justices flipped a coin to determine which defendant to try first despite their legal obfuscations and equivocations. Either bring these defendants to immediate trial or set them free at once but do not mock JUSTICE for the people.