by Robert Scott
Hatch wasn’t the only one compiling information on the case. Various detectives were reviewing and compiling evidence and sending it on to Steward Menefee. The trial was originally set to commence on January 11, 2005, but it was rescheduled for March 1, 2005. On January 25, Menefee wrote the presiding judge and said that the date would have to be moved forward once again. The reason was, as Menefee noted, “Detective Lane Youmans and Gary Parfitt, along with their family members, have made arrangements for an extended cruise and have purchased nonrefundable tickets for the cruise. These two officers are necessary to establish both condition of the crime scene, the location of the items seized at the crime scene and to establish chain of evidence from which DNA evidence was later extracted.” Menefee noted that this DNA and fingerprint evidence was the very heart of the case, and he asked for a postponement of trial until March 15, 2005. This extension of time was granted.
All during January 2005, David Hatch was busy. He set forth a motion for an additional counsel to help him prepare for trial, and once again he reviewed crime scene photographs and videotape. He also had a conference with Lane Youmans, and on January 7, he met with Lane at the sheriff’s office to look at actual crime scene items, such as Carol’s clothing and other evidence. Then Hatch had a phone conference with Dr. William Brady concerning autopsy and pathology evidence. If Menefee was working hard on the case from his frame of reference on the prosecution angle, Hatch was working just as hard from the defense side.
On January 11, Hatch had a phone conference with Dr. Brady concerning the DNA expert material, and the next day Hatch reviewed evidence on the Elaine McCollum and Patty Rodriguez cases, just in case those became an issue at trial. The prosecution, of course, wanted that material to be heard by a jury, while Hatch did not. And then by January 14, Hatch wrote, Review proposed offer. That was it as far as the notations went. Hatch did not reveal what the offer was, but obviously there was one now being put forward by the county prosecutor’s office.
Offer or not, Hatch kept on gathering material and files, and wrote on January 17, Prepare for trial. Review autopsy reports. For the following week, in his tally of time spent working on the Gerard case that would be charged to the county, he amassed seventeen hours preparing for trial.
Then, once again, on January 25, Hatch was reviewing a plea offer. He had a phone conference with Steward Menefee and one with Tom Keehan, who was David Hatch’s co-counsel. By the next day Hatch and Keehan were in the county jail, discussing the plea offer with David Gerard. This went back and forth into early February as well. Hatch shuttled between talking to Gerard and then talking to Steward Menefee. There was even a phone conference with Gerard’s siblings, whom Hatch did not name in his file on the matter. By February 8, Hatch wrote, Phone conference with client. Conference with client at county jail. Conference with Menefee.
Things were getting very close to a plea deal once again, just as David Gerard had done in Frankie Cochran’s case. And then on February 9, 2005, David Hatch had an Alford plea in hand for David Gerard to review. An Alford plea, in essence, stated that a suspect said he was not guilty of the charges, but that a jury might find him guilty, anyway. Instead of going to trial, he would plead to agreed-upon charges and be sentenced. Often the person who took the plea deal got some kind of compensation in way of less time. Sometimes those who were facing the death penalty took an Alford plea in exchange for life without parole.
Both David Hatch and David Gerard went over the plea, line by line, in the county jail. Hatch explained to Gerard that by signing the plea, he would be giving up certain rights. These included the right to a speedy public trial before a jury of his peers, as well as the right to remain silent on the charges against him. These also included the right to hear and question witnesses, the right to be presumed innocent until found guilty and the right to appeal a determination of guilt after a trial. This was important. Gerard could never come back later and try to appeal the guilty plea.
On this present case, which concerned Carol Leighton, if he signed the form, Gerard would be admitting to murder in the second degree. The elements were in Grays Harbor County, Washington, he’d had the intent to cause the death of another person but without premeditation, causing the death of another person.
Gerard understood that the standard range of confinement would be anywhere from 154 months in prison to 254 months in prison. The maximum term could be life in prison. But by this being a second-degree murder, he would not be facing the death penalty. It was noted that by signing the agreement, Gerard agreed that the prosecutor’s statement of the case was correct and complete. And if he was convicted of additional crimes before the time he was sentenced, he had to tell the judge about those convictions. Under the circumstances this was very unlikely to occur. In addition to a sentence, Gerard was going to have to pay, if he could, $500 to a victim’s compensation fund.
Line H was particulary important, in light of what had happened in sentencing after Gerard was convicted in the Frankie Cochran case. Line H in this agreement stated that the judge in the present plea did not have to follow anyone’s recommendations as to the length of the sentence. Line H did add that if the judge did rule beyond the standard range, Gerard could appeal this decision.
Gerard also was told that this plea was considered to be a “strike” against him. He already had one strike for the attempted murder of Frankie Cochran. If he got one more strike, either in state or federal court, it carried a mandatory life imprisonment sentence.
Finally on line 11 was a section where Gerard had to make a brief statement in his own words of what he had done to be guilty of the crime. Gerard wrote, I make this plea of guilty in the form of an Alford Plea to take advantage of the plea agreement. I acknowledge that facts and evidence exists upon which a jury would convict me, on a more probable than not basis.
Once again Gerard did not actually say that he had murdered Carol Leighton. Instead, he related that a jury would probably look at the facts and find him guilty of murdering her.
David Gerard put his signature to the document and so did David Hatch. In short order Steward Menefee signed it, as did Judge Gordon Godfrey. Within a space of six years, David Gerard had made plea deals for the attempted murder of Frankie Cochran and murder in the second degree of Carol Leighton.
About the plea, County Prosecutor Steward Menefee told journalists, “I think this is a fair outcome. The reason we made the deal was because of the age of the case, the nature of the evidence and the fact he’s currently serving a thirty-seven-year sentence.”
Gerard might have been serving that thirty-seven-year sentence for the assault on Frankie Cochran, but that was not the end of that matter. In fact, there was trouble brewing, and Menefee addressed that very matter. Menefee said, “That is another good reason for this conviction. By making this plea agreement, we are insured that he will serve most of his original sentence.”
What Menefee was talking about was a matter in the United States Supreme Court where that court had recently ruled that “exceptional” sentences handed down by judges were unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court said that only juries could hand down exceptional sentences that were longer than the standard range. And everyone in law enforcement and the judicial community had been surprised when Judge McCauley gave Gerard a thirty-seven-year sentence for the assault and attempted murder of Frankie Cochran. Most in the GHSO at the time thought Gerard was going to be given fifteen to twenty years.
Menefee related, “That Supreme Court decision could end up affecting Gerard’s sentence (in the Cochran case) if it’s applied retroactively.”
So now it was very important that Judge Gordon Godfrey hand down a stiff sentence to David Gerard for the murder of Carol Leighton. Before pronouncing sentence, Godfrey asked Gerard, “Out of blank curiosity, why did you kill her?”
And staying true to form, Gerard replied, “I didn’t.”
In the end Judge Godfrey gave Gerard a seventeen-year sentence for her murder. Th
at was at the top range of sentences that could be handed down for that degree of murder, according to 1996 guidelines, when Carol had been murdered.
After the proceedings were over, David Hatch told reporters that David Gerard had huge chunks of his memory missing. “There were periods of time when he would arrive home and couldn’t remember what happened. Years of drug and alcohol abuse might be a contributing factor. He can’t read or write well and is described by those who have known him for years as being slow.”
In fact, there were two people at court who came to support David Gerard. They were Paul and Paula Dean, of Montesano, who had also stood up for David after the Frankie Cochran case ended in a plea bargain. The Deans had known Gerard for years and considered him to be a friend. The Deans were devout Christians and constantly prayed for Gerard. Over the years they had gone and visited him in jail, when no one else would. Paula Dean told a reporter, “He was always helpful to my mom and stepdad. They were good to him, too, and he would go to their house and eat dinner and help out in the yard and with their dogs.” Paul Dean added that he had known David Gerard since David was a boy, and he had never seen the dark and violent side of him. When he and his wife went to visit with David, they never talked about his guilt or innocence. They only went there to visit him and pray for him.
By contrast, there were no family members or friends at the hearings to remember Carol Leighton. No one except Detective Ed McGowan, who was there on behalf of the other detectives who had never given up on the case. It was McGowan, along with Lane Youmans and Matt Organ, who had worked so hard over the years.
County Prosecutor Menefee said later of Detective McGowan, the other detectives and Carol Leighton, “Heroin ruined Carol Leighton’s life long before David Gerard took it. She was forced into prostitution to support her habit. It ruined her marriage. Her husband still cared for her, but he couldn’t tolerate her habit. It inhibited her from forming friendships. She was one of those invisible people in Aberdeen, someone who lives in the background. And she died that way, too. All alone and forgotten by most. It was law enforcement who stood up for Carol Leighton. Because they wouldn’t stop until they found the person who killed her and made sure he was held responsible.”
Lane Youmans wasn’t at the court for one very good reason, he was on the Caribbean cruise with his wife, and Detective Parfitt and his wife. Lane later recalled, “I wanted to be at Gerard’s sentencing, but it wasn’t to be. I had arranged for a trip through the Panama Canal on the Regal Princess with my wife, Terri, as a thirtieth-anniversary present to her. The cruise ship was heading to Ocho Rios, Jamaica, and I knew that Gerard was going to be sentenced at six-thirty P.M. Eastern Daylight Time.
“At that moment of six-thirty P.M. EST, the four of us were sitting at table number seventy-six in the Palm Court dining room, enjoying lobster thermidor and chocolate soufflé. I glanced at my watch and told Gary, ‘It’s over.’ We shook hands and continued eating dinner. I felt as though a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders.
“After dinner, I walked out on the aft deck, alone. No one was around. The sun was setting and the sky was getting dark. The ocean was an incredible shade of blue, and the sky was clear. There was a warm breeze adding to the pleasant moment. I pulled out a fine cigar, lit it and stared down at the ocean.”
Lane savored the moment while he could. He only learned later that Gerard, in essence, hadn’t received any more prison time for the murder of Carol Leighton. Lane said of this, “Gerard received seventeen years for a brutal murder. But it was time he was already serving for his crime against Frankie. The judge said his hands were tied as far as a harsher sentence went. It had been five years of my work and time, struggling with a prosecutor that was reluctant to prosecute, and all of the roadblocks and obstacles I had endured. The amazing thing was, I didn’t care about all I had gone through. I felt I had done my best to get justice for Carol Leighton and all who loved her. The other murders could be prosecuted someday, and Gerard made to answer for his crimes, when circumstances changed.”
As time passed, the image of Carol’s face disappeared from Lane’s mirror as he shaved himself in the morning. As he had said, he’d done all he could for her. If it hadn’t added up to more prison time for Gerard, it had accomplished two things. It had added a second strike to Gerard. And if a case for the murder of Elaine McCollum ever went forward, it was a conviction that would be on David Gerard’s record. Then he would have three strikes and never get out of prison.
In some ways, Lane Youmans, Matt Organ, Ed McGowan, Rick Scott and the other detectives at GHSO sticking up for Carol Leighton was law enforcement at its best. It was proof that justice was for everyone, not just for a senator’s daughter or a pastor’s daughter. It was for someone’s daughter who had fallen to the lowest rung of society, ensnared in drug addiction and prostitution. It was justice for an individual who had few good breaks in life. It was justice for all.
21
AFTERMATH
David Gerard kept hoping that his documents to the Court of Appeals of the State of Washington would sway them in rescinding what he deemed to be excessive sentencing for the attempted murder of Frankie Cochran. He tried every avenue he could, including the following: Prior to my acceptance of the plea, I was pressured by assigned counsel. That is, my trial counsel continuously threatened me with the possibility of me receiving the death penalty and the plea was the best defense he could offer.
Gerard also stated that he didn’t think his case had been properly investigated from a defense standpoint. In one odd reference he said that other witnesses were around to see an attack on Frankie Cochran, and they had never been questioned. Just who they were or what they saw, he didn’t specify.
And Gerard wrote that even though he was told that the conviction would be a strike against him, he was never told the ramifications of the strike. Once again he wrote: For those reasons, I would request that my plea be withdrawn and that the judgment and sentence be vacated.
When the court of appeals finally got around to this matter, they looked at the various issues that David Gerard had brought up. The court said that the facts were not in dispute, and it was only the “excessive nature” of sentencing that was going to be addressed. It spoke of the attack and then noted: As a result of the attack, Frankie Cochran endures severe pain and suffering, partial and possibly permanent paralysis, and probable long-term disability.
The court of appeals noted that the County Prosecutor’s office asked for 273 months of sentencing, and the judge actually handed down 444 months instead. It was also noted that the judge in the case spoke of the attack as being “deliberately cruel and savage.” The appeals court even stressed that Gerard admitted that his actions had been “brutal, unthinkable and horrific.” Nonetheless, he now claims that his actions were not deliberately cruel because his acts did not exhibit gratuitous violence. Gerard claimed that his actions were in line with attempted first-degree murder, something he pled guilty to in the case. Gerard even stated that the number of hammer blows on Frankie’s head was in line with what it would take to kill someone. In essence, Gerard was saying he used as much force as he thought would kill her. When he thought she was dead, or soon would be, he quit hitting her with the hammer.
The court of appeals wasn’t buying this. It said that Gerard had also stabbed Frankie in the neck. And he was not taking into account that the Grays Harbor Superior Court was not only looking at the number of hammer blows inflicted, but the extensive physical and emotional trauma that Frankie had suffered after the attack.
The court of appeals also found that Gerard’s acts exceeded the degree of violence needed to commit attempted murder, even with the use of a hammer. The court said that a person could attempt murder with a lot less violence and physical injury to a victim. It cited hitting Frankie with the hammer after the defensive wound to her hand, that she was beaten about the face and head and stabbed in the neck to try and make sure she was dead. Then the court stated: Cases cit
ed by Gerard relate acts of greater torture than those committed by him, but do no diminish the cruelty of his actions.
Finally, and most important, the court of appeals ruled that the sentence handed down by Judge McCauley was not excessive in a case such as this: The sentence of 444 months is only 1 and a half times the standard range and less than the statutory maximum for attempted murder. The duration imposed does not shock the consciousness of this court. It is not excessive.
So, like it or not, David Gerard was not going to serve any less time for the attempted murder of Frankie Cochran. That suited Lane Youmans just fine. He was still angry about the sentencing on Carol Leighton’s case however, which was running concurrently with the Cochran sentencing. Lane said, “Gerard didn’t get one more day of prison time for that. I thought that was wrong.”
Even after David Gerard made his Alford plea for the murder of Carol Leighton, Lane Youmans did not stop investigating Gerard for other murders in the area, mainly the Elaine McCollum and Patty Rodriguez cases, but others as well. Lane spoke with Seattle Times reporter Christine Clarridge, who eventually wrote the article ONE MAN TASK FORCE KEEPS COLD CASES ON THE FRONT BURNER.
Clarridge reported that Lane had never so much as accepted a free cup of coffee during his whole stint in law enforcement and often gathered cold-case information on his own time. With that topic in mind, Lane told Clarridge, “I guess I just think like a lot of cops do, that we speak for the victims and they deserve justice. Somebody needs to find out who is responsible and hold them accountable. Somebody needs to find the truth.”